Usually when a quarterback gets injured, the cause is obvious. It is rare to see a non-contact injury to a quarterback’s hand or wrist.
When Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow threw a touchdown in the second quarter against the Baltimore Ravens, he immediately grabbed his right arm in pain. He was not hit on the play. But he grabbed his arm near the wrist and was clearly in pain. He went to the medical tent immediately after leaving the field.
While the Ravens had the ball, the broadcast showed Burrow trying to throw down the sideline but couldn’t catch the ball and went straight back to the locker room. Boro didn’t come back. At the beginning of the second half, he was excluded. The Bengals lost 34-20 as Burrow’s replacement, Jake Browning, had only 68 yards passing. Most of that came on a meaningless final drive.
On Amazon Prime Video, the streaming team pointed to a video on social media that shows Burrow getting off the team bus carrying some sort of A bow on his right hand. It’s unclear if that was a precursor to his freak injury.
After the game, Bengals coach Zac Taylor later told the media that it “feels like” Burrow sprained his wrist. Taylor said he was not aware of any previous infection. He did not comment or speculate on whether it was a long-term injury.
Earlier in the drive, Burrow was taken to the ground by Ravens edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney and his hand got stuck in the turf.
Browning took over for Burrow on the Bengals’ next drive. He had thrown just one NFL pass in a regular-season game before Thursday night. The Bengals said Burrow’s return was questionable, but Browning started the second half. Not long into the second half, the Bengals ruled Burrow out of the game.
Burrow played through a calf injury in the early part of the season although his performance was affected. This time, he couldn’t even catch the ball on the sideline, and Bengals fans had to fear the worst.
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