Burrow, Bengals hit road vs Browns on NFL’s 100th birthday
Joe Burrow’s childhood was pretty much the same as every other boy raised in footballobsessed Ohio, the NFL’s birthplace.
He learned his ABCs and multiplication tables in school. Outside, Burrow got lessons on Paul Brown, Jim Brown, Boomer Esiason, Bernie Kosar, The Ickey Shuffle and Dawg Pound.
On Thursday night, Burrow connects to those roots.
This year’s No. 1 overall draft pick, reigning Heisman Trophy winner and just maybe the quarterback to change Cincinnati’s fortunes, makes his first road start as the Bengals visit the Cleveland Browns to renew a rivalry Burrow learned about as a youngster.
“I know the history behind it,” he said. “Excited for my first one.”
The 23-year-old’s entry into the “Battle of Ohio” also comes on a significant date as it marks the 100th anniversary of the league’s start in Canton, where an organization meeting on Sept. 17, 1920 kicked things off.
Burrow’s debut last week against San Diego went about as expected. He made mistakes, showed the same resilience that took him from a third-stringer at Ohio State to national champion at LSU, and had the Bengals poised for a possible win. They missed a last-second field goal to force overtime and lost 1613.
Burrow scored his first TD on a 23-yard run. He finished 23 of 36 for 193 yards, but was sharp down the stretch, going 8 of 11 for 70 yards on his drive.
“In my eyes I played terrible through 3 ½ quarters and then played up to my standards in the last drive and almost won the game,” Burrow said. “I know I’ll be ready for it and I just have to keep that same mindset in the two-minute drill and bring that along for the rest of the season.”
The Browns were searching for any positives after getting blown out 38-6 in Baltimore, a rout that soured any excitement about the team’s potential under first-year coach Kevin Stefanski.
Cleveland was undone by turnovers, penalties and missed kicks. Sound familiar? It was just one game, but it was a really bad one, and it’s put early pressure on Stefanski, who didn’t have the benefit of a normal offseason, to get things fixed quickly.
There’s also more scrutiny on quarterback Baker Mayfield. He set the tone last week with an interception on Cleveland’s first possession, and another uneven performance has raised more questions as to whether he’s the long-term answer for the Browns.
Mayfield knows he’s got to be better.
“There is a sense of urgency,” he said. “We hurt ourselves very early on in that game. The focus is on eliminating those mistakes and playing our game.” SELECT GROUP
It will certainly be the smallest crowd in BengalsBrowns history as only 6,000 will be allowed inside FirstEnergy Stadium due to COVID-19 restrictions.
“It better be a rowdy 6,000 in those stands,” Mayfield quipped.
Stefanski said cardboard cutouts and ambient crowd noise created a “strange” environment last week in Baltimore, but he did enjoy hearing some of the banter from players and coaches.
“It does take you back to like a JV high school game,” he said. “But it was is kind of cool also just to hear some of the sounds coming from the field, from our sideline and their sideline.”