Breaking Down Joe Burrow's Gritty Performance against the Titans
It’s hard to describe exactly how well Joe Burrow played against the Titans in the Divisional Round, but I’ll try. There was chaos and unpredictability happening around him all afternoon. The Titans dominated the Bengals up front, finishing with 9 sacks. But Burrow never really got to a point where he was playing fast in response. He didn’t perceive pressure or assume it would come on the next play like you see even the best quarterbacks in the NFL do. He hung in, compartmentalized, treated each play as an individual one separate from anything that had happened prior, and delivered a memorable performance.
First, let’s set the stage with what Burrow was seeing right from the start:
I should point out that this play didn’t even count in the books due to a delay of game penalty. It certainly counted in reality as Burrow got smothered by two pass rushers. But this was his view for much of the afternoon. Tennessee repeatedly attacked with 2 and 3-man stunts that the Bengals struggled to pick up. On this play, for instance, Jeffery Simmons started in the A-gap to the right of the center and ended up looping around left tackle Jonah Williams. That’s not easy to pick up, especially with the edge rusher outside of Williams crossing his face at the snap with an aggressive inside rush.
The Titans’ pass-rushing approach had the Bengals reeling all afternoon. You can see that they weren’t on the same page on this play below, allowing quick inside penetration:
The below blitz was picked up on paper. However, it ensured a 1-on-1 between Denico Autry and Jonah Williams. Advantage Titans:
Here was another 3-man stunt that the Bengals had trouble picking up:
I breezed through those sacks just to give you a flavor of what Burrow was dealing with all day. Tennessee’s pressures were often accounted for by the Bengals’ protection schemes. In reality, though, Cincinnati’s O-line couldn’t consistently handle them. Yet Burrow was completely unphased.
On this 3rd-and-5 in the second quarter, the Titans were showing pressure with a double-A-gap look. The Bengals had the ability to pick this up on paper, but Burrow had already been sacked 3 times at this point. It would have been easy for any quarterback to assume there would be leakage somewhere. Burrow didn’t:
He did a great job of throwing with anticipation on this play. Look at where his receiver (Tee Higgins) was when Burrow had just started his motion:
Higgins wasn’t even out of his break yet, and the safety he was attacking had outside leverage on him for what was an out-breaking route. However, with his hips turned inside, Burrow knew Higgins would have a step on him if he delivered the ball on time:
Anticipation isn’t just about throwing the ball before a receiver breaks. It’s about quickly recognizing the coverage, reading the body language of coverage defenders in relation to the routes called, and delivering the ball on time. It’s not a trait that every NFL quarterback possesses at a high level. Burrow has already shown himself to be one of the best in this area. It was all the more impressive that he was able to consistently make throws like this given the beating he was taking.
Later in the quarter, Burrow again comfortably dealt with another Titans blitz. Again, he understood that it was accounted for by the protection scheme. Again, he put what had happened prior to this play behind him. Again, he hung in the pocket. This time, he even used a slight shoulder roll to the outside to hold linebacker Harold Landry (#58) underneath, creating the opening behind him for Tee Higgins’ dig route:
There were plenty of other passes not shown here that helped the Bengals move the chains and generate offense. None was bigger than Burrow’s final throw.