CINCINNATI (AP) — Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow confirmed on Tuesday that he’ll be returning on Thanksgiving night to start against the Baltimore Ravens.
Burrow had surgery to repair a turf toe injury on Sept. 19, and is making his return nearly a full month ahead of schedule.
“We pushed it within the limits of what we could do, and kind of just based it on how I was feeling, how I was recovering, how it looked the next day after we pushed it, and just went from there,” said Burrow, who missed nine games.
Burrow returns to a 3-8 Bengals team that has dropped four straight and is tied for last place in the AFC North. Even though the Bengals are reeling, it was important to coach Zac Taylor for Burrow to return when he was ready regardless of the Bengals’ record.
It was also important to Burrow.
“I’m a football player,” Burrow said. “If I get hurt, I’m going to go through the rehab process and then I’m going to let everyone know when I feel like I can go out there and play. I don’t really know what else to say about that. I’m not ever going to go to somebody and say, “Yeah, I’m healthy, but I don’t think I should go out there and play.’ That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. I’m not going to live my life and play this game scared of something happening.”
Even though Burrow hasn’t played in more than two months, he looked sharp in practice last week. The coaches worked Burrow in on the scout team as well as with the first-team offense for 11-on-11 drills where he got a better feel of the speed of the game.
Burrow had a chance to play last week against the New England Patriots in a game that the Bengals lost, 26-20. Taylor decided to stick with Joe Flacco for that game, and Burrow said that he understood the decision.
“I had a good workout early in the week, I was feeling good,” Burrow said. “Wednesday and Thursday practice happened, I took a lot of reps. My body was pretty sore. Not necessarily my toe. My toe feels great. The rest of my body being back out there for so long. I was confident I could get that right to play on Sunday. Zac ended up thinking it was better to wait the extra four days. I think that was a good decision.”
Following a challenging past two months, Burrow said that it’s meaningful to get a chance to play on Thanksgiving on a national stage. He has clear memories as a kid of watching the Detroit Lions and quarterback Matthew Stafford.
Baltimore started the season 1-5, but has won five straight to move into a tie with Pittsburgh atop the AFC North.
“You don’t like them,” Burrow said. “It’s a division rivalry. You got respect for them. It’s intense out there. I wanted to be out there for playing on Thanksgiving. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, that I pushed for in the past, and the NFL gave it to us. Then, you know, the injury happened, and thought I wasn’t gonna be able to play. And then as we got closer, I felt like it was a real possibility. So that’s exciting to me. It’s a national stage to go out and prove yourself again after not playing for several weeks.”
The Bengals will also have wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase back after he served his one-game suspension for spitting on Pittsburgh’s Jalen Ramsey. However, Tee Higgins will miss Thursday night’s game because of a concussion.
Chase said he was happy because “I got my friend back out there” when discussing Burrow.
“I know he’s excited for it. There’s not a better game for him to come back and show what he can do,” Chase said. “I know he wanted to play (last week), but I don’t think it was time. They have him another week to relax and get himself back under him. So his legs should be feeling good, his feet should be feeling good, and he should be ready.”
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