Cincinnati Bengals franchise quarterback Joe Burrow entered Week 2’s victory over the Houston Texans with back soreness. While he was questionable to play, he ultimately finished the game without much issue, despite taking a good amount of hits from Houston’s talented defensive front.
Many of those hits appeared to come from the left side of the offensive line, leading to criticism of left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. Brown spent a lot of time in one-on-one matchups with Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle
Hunter, who got in the backfield quite a bit.
Brown did better in Week 1, though he still allowed two QB hits on Burrow. The 30-year-old Brown now leads the Bengals in allowed sacks (three), QB hits (three), and total pressures (six).
Despite fan and media criticism, Burrow spoke to the media Wednesday and stood up for Brown, stating that all of the hits weren’t his fault.
“I think Orlando was pretty good. There were a couple sacks that weren’t in his control at the end of the day. There’s a lot of different things that go into pass protection that’s not just on the offensive line, and that’s what you don’t see in the media,” Burrow said.
Burrow is correct. On TV, we just see a player hit the quarterback, see who lined up in front of him, and then blame that player, but there truly is a lot more that goes into a sack or quarterback pressure than the naked eye sees on game day.
“There’s very intricate details of past protection, and guys expecting help here. Guys expecting help from a different spot,” Burrow said. “A lot of different things that go into it that we would never explain to you guys, and then it’s left up to interpretation, and that’s that’s how football works, and that’s the o-ine position at the end of the day.
“That is a thankless job from the exterior, so you try to pump those guys up as much as you can in the building. But I really think they were pretty good on Sunday.”
While it may not have been his best day, Burrow doesn’t sound like he holds any ill will toward his left tackle. Instead, Burrow is publicly backing Brown ahead of a road divisional matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who also have a dangerous pass rush.
