Steelers Could Have One Key Advantage over Joe Burrow on Sunday
It’s expected to be 30 degrees on Sunday in Cincinnati. It will be pretty windy, too. When asked how he threw at practice on Wednesday, Burrow wasn’t necessarily pleased.
“That’s a question that remains to be answered,” Burrow said when asked how his wrist will hold up in the cold weather. “I haven’t experienced a cold weather game with that yet. In the past, when I’ve had injuries, cold weather does affect it, so we’ll find out. Maybe I’ll have a heater on the sideline or something. I haven’t really thought about that yet, but we’ll see.”
Despite the Cincinnati Bengals 4-7 record, quarterback Joe Burrow has been on a tear this season. He has completed 67.2% of his passes for 3,028 yards with 27 touchdowns, four interceptions, and a quarterback rating 106.9. He also has a 17-0 touchdown-interception ratio in the red zone this season, according to Pro Football Focus.
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin knows Burrow will be a major challenge for his defensive unit on Sunday.
“If you look at the tape, he’s MVP-caliber in terms of what he’s doing for them,” Tomlin said during his weekly Tuesday press conference. “I started first with the two Baltimore games because of the intimacy of divisional play. Man, I don’t know how many touchdowns he threw in those two football games. I know Chase himself had five. It’s just kind of reflective of what he and they are capable of.”
The Burrow-Ja’Marr Chase connection has been lethal this season. Chase currently leads the league in receiving yards (1,056) and touchdown receptions (12).
Tomlin expects Sunday’s game to be another AFC North slugfest, and stopping Burrow and Chase is the top priority.
“It’s a 60-minute game. I think that’s reflected in watching them play,” Tomlin said of the Bengals. “I think oftentimes you see teams are capable of slowing him or slowing them down at the early portions of the game, but in the fourth quarter, he and they are coming on like gangbusters. I’ve been around long enough to have an appreciation for that. I know how and why that happens. You better carry enough defense. They get comfortable as the game goes on with what it is that you’re doing, what it is they need to do to be successful.”
On the flip side, Burrow knows the Steelers’ defense will be coming after him all afternoon.
“They’re physical. They’re really good tacklers, their safeties are two of the best tandems in the league,” Burrow said of Pittsburgh’s defense. “I have a lot of respect for those guys. The way that they’re playing right now, the way that they disguise their coverages, you just consistently see them making open-field tackles on plays that should have been explosives and they come out and make an open-field tackle to limit that. So we’re going to have to be great in the open field making guys miss and creating some plays.”
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Alan Saunders provided reporting from Pittsburgh.
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