What Bengals receiver Burton had to say about behavior that has kept him on the sidelines

CINCINNATI (WKRC) – Bengals wide receiver Jermaine Burton on Tuesday addressed some of the issues that kept him inactive for last Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders, and veteran wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase talked about his own issues as a rookie , but how quickly he fixed them and why he didn’t talk to Burton about it last weekend.

Burton was trending toward significant playing time against Las Vegas, but after what Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said was that Burton didn’t handle his business late last week, the rookie was placed on the inactive list for the game.

In a brief exchange with reporters Tuesday, Burton admitted he let himself and his teammates down, but then responded to questions with the same answer.

“Yeah for sure,” Burton said.

The following exchange then took place:

Q: What did you say to your teammates and what did teammates say to you?

Burton: “It just needs to get better.”

Q: What happened on Saturday?

Burton: “It just needs to get better.”

Question: Do you think you can overcome this and not have it happen again?

Burton: “It just needs to get better.”

Q: Where is your mindset?

Burton: “It just needs to get better.”

Chase said he had a similar offense as a rookie, arriving late to a meeting, ironically the week the Bengals played at Baltimore on Oct. 24, 2021, and while he had an outstanding game (eight receptions for 201 yards and a touchdown) he also knew he couldn’t go wrong again.

“I missed a whole meeting, got in at 10 a.m. and then played in that game in Baltimore (in 2021), so that was the last time I was late, though,” Chase said. “That was the best game I had all season and I was late so they said it was cool but I know it wasn’t cool so I’m not going to be late anymore. I mean it just freshman year, get up, gotta know what the schedule is and so that’s what it was for me, I wasn’t used to waking up early and (knowing) the schedule, but I mean, now you just have to know your schedule ., know when you’ll be here, I won’t speak for him, but you know it’s going to happen.

Unfortunately for Burton, it doesn’t look like he’s learned as he’s struggled to get on the field this season despite showing playmaking ability when he does.

Chase said he has talked to Burton about his issues but is done with it.

“I’ve talked to Jermaine before, not for (the current) situation, but at the end of the day you’re going to learn from the situations,” Chase said. “I had to do the same. You just learn from your situation until you understand what’s going on and see the consequences that have been coming. Then you have to understand and get your head right.”

“He’s a grown man. I’ve had a conversation with him. He knows right from wrong, so I’m not going to keep telling you something. I don’t expect Tee (Higgins) to do that to me. So , like I said, you live and learn. He will learn from the experience and hopefully not happen again and move on.”

Chase said after he was late that he didn’t feel the need to apologize to the team, nor does he expect Burton to.

“I don’t know if we expect him to do that, you know, it’s up to him at the end of the day,” Chase said. “My game apologized. I didn’t want to get in front of the whole team and I apologize. Like for me, I didn’t want to. I mean, I messed up. Going in front of the team to apologize doesn’t solve a problem. I’m solving a problem myself, that’s all.”