Looking back at Joe Burrow’s road to recovery from wrist surgery

On By Littum

When Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow saw his schedule for the first time in May, he noted a specific game.

Week 10: Bengals at Ravens on “Thursday Night Football.”

Thursday’s game marks nearly the one-year anniversary of Burrows’ wrist injury. On November 16, 2023, Burrow suffered the injury on national television and found out within 24 hours that his season was over.

When asked if he could remember his exact thoughts after suffering a hit from Jadeveon Clowney that ultimately ended up tearing his scapholunate ligament in his throwing wrist, Burrow said he realized pretty quickly when he got to sideline and tried to throw that something was serious. wrong.

“I wasn’t sure what to think at first,” Burrow said of the injury. “I was just focused on trying to figure out a way to get back out there. But then you try to throw and you realize it’s not going to happen. And then after the game I kind of figured something didn’t was fantastic.”

By the next afternoon, the Bengals had enough information to declare Burrows’ season over. Head coach Zac Taylor announced his franchise quarterback would undergo season-ending surgery at his press conference, and from that moment Burrow began to process the comeback he was about to make once again.

At that point in the season, Cincinnati was 5-4 and hoping to bounce back from a slow start, largely due to Burrows’ preseason calf injury. After he admittedly rushed to get back on the field, the Bengals felt that with a healthy bullpen, they could make another run.

Then another reality hit Burrow and Taylor – one much worse than the news of a strained calf. Burrow had to overcome another gruesome injury that involved surgery just four years into his NFL career. In Burrows’ rookie season with the Bengals, he tore his ACL in November and missed the rest of the season.

“I just remember being one-on-one with him in the locker room after the game,” Taylor said of when Burrow hurt his wrist last year against the Ravens. “It’s a tough situation when you lose a player, especially of that importance in such a key position, but my job is to keep things moving forward and there’s nothing you can do to change the circumstances. I am very human. I’m feeling the punch at the moment.”

For the next nine months, Burrow and the Bengals had to listen to nonstop questions about whether Burrow’s wrist would ever be the same. And what made the situation even more dramatic was that the Bengals had just given Burrow a historic contract extension, making him the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL.

Of course, the Bengals hoped he would come back and be the same player he once was, but no one knew except Burrow, who said he never allowed himself to wallow in self-pity.

“I was definitely down in the dumps, but it’s something I’ve been through before and I’ve been dealing with these for years and I know how to get through them and you just have to focus on getting better every day,” Burrow said. “And you know, about a year down the road you’re going to feel good and it’s going to be behind you, so you just have to attack every day like you’re trying to get better and go from there. “

The injury Burrow suffered was not one many NFL players had suffered and overcome. In fact, no other NFL quarterback has ever dealt with this injury, and this only added to the speculation surrounding Burrows’ return.

But as he has done his entire career, Burrow was on a mission to write his own story. He dedicated himself in the weight room and changed his diet. He did everything he could to get his body in the best shape it could be so that when he could start throwing again, he would put his best foot forward.

Burrow slowly regained strength, dexterity and movement in his wrist. He began throwing in the spring and in May joined the Bengals for organized team activities. The Bengals closely monitored his reps and put him on a schedule to make sure they didn’t push him too hard.

Throughout the process, Burrow has been very open about the ups and downs in his recovery process. Burrow repeatedly said he would have good days and bad days and continues — to this day — to get treatment on his wrist. He has been on every Bengals injury report this season as a full participant but with a wrist designation. According to the NFL’s injury report policy, if a player receives treatment in any capacity, they must be placed on the injury report.

When training camp started, Burrow was throwing the ball well, but still wasn’t pushing the ball down the field in the air. Questions continued to swirl about whether this was because his wrist was not yet at full strength.

All anyone in the Bengals’ organization cared about was getting Burrow to Week 1 without suffering a setback. So if that meant controlling his reps and structuring the offense to not call plays that stressed his wrist, they were willing to do it, even if they never publicly said that was the plan.

After that, the Bengals lost to the New England Patriots in the season opener, and Burrow did not attempt a pass of more than 30 yards in the game. Burrow again had to ask repeated questions about the status of his wrist.

He continued to downplay his wrist injury and reassured everyone that the Bengals’ offensive struggles against the Patriots were not a result of his wrist. Cincinnati’s problems were more due to Burrow not playing well, largely due to his lack of game reps at that point, and Ja’Marr Chase not practicing during training camp.

In Week 2, the whole world would know if Burrow would ever be the same player he once was. And as he has done many times in his career so far, when the lights shine brightest on him, he delivers.

Burrow looked much better throwing the ball and looked more comfortable in the pocket. Cincinnati’s offense played well enough to nearly beat the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 2. The Bengals ended up losing in the final seconds of the game, but Burrow’s performance was far from the reason they lost.

From mid-September to now, Burrow is playing as well as any quarterback in the NFL. Before suffering the wrist injury, Burrow was considered a top-3 quarterback in the league by most who observed the game.

He’s right back where he was, and that’s a testament to his dedication off the field. Burrow is intrinsically motivated, and for many professional athletes an injury like this can derail a career. Burrow admitted right now that this is the best his wrist has felt since the injury, which makes sense considering the original recovery timeline for a scapholunate tear is 9-12 months.

The Bengals are 4-5 heading into a must-win game against the Ravens, and while Burrow will likely have some kind of emotion about returning to the spot where he suffered the gruesome injury in the exact spot at nearly the same time, he remains singularly focused on playing as well as he can to get his team a win.

Burrow joked that the NFL schedulers put this game on the calendar when and where they did for a reason. He knows it’s no accident he’s returning to Baltimore when he is.

“If a star player gets hurt in a primetime game, they like to schedule the same exact game on the same exact week at the same time a year later,” Burrow said. “I think it happened to Aaron Rodgers this year. It happened to me this year. I think it’s something they like to do.”