CINCINNATI (WXIX) - Former Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan, one of Zac Taylor’s best friends, sent the Bengals’ head coach a text on Friday morning.
“It was a hockey goalie from like Montreal,” Taylor said.
The photo was accompanied with a quote that was something along the lines of “Nothing’s really going to matter. We’re all going to die.”
Taylor received that message as he weighs the difficult decision of whether or not to play Joe Burrow against the Patriots on Sunday.
Burrow is listed as questionable. Whether or not he plays is anyone outside of the building’s guess.
“I think Joe has done everything he can to put himself in a position to get back,” Taylor said. “I got to make that decision. We will take the time we’ve got. Assess all the practice we’ve got this week. He’s done everything he can to put himself and be ready to go. Now I have to make a decision on what we do.”
Considering that the process has gone this far, it feels like Burrow definitely wants to play and feels like he can play. He’s seemingly a full month ahead of schedule coming back from toe surgery, but he has looked great in practice this week.
Taylor has to be cognizant of protecting Burrow from himself.
“I view that as very important,” Taylor said. “I have to take into account what I think is best for him. He’s coming back off an injury. He has been out for a long time. I know he’s of the right mindset and has done everything physically, and then I have to take into account what’s the best thing for him, what’s the best thing for our team and make the soundest decision.”
While we don’t have an answer yet on whether or not he’s going to play, there’s one essential question that’s going underdiscussed.
What happens if he does play?
There’s a line that Taylor has used a few times over the years in various different contexts: Living with the fear that someone is about to get hurt is a terrible way to live your life.
We all could get hit by a bus at any time. As Callahan insinuated in his message to Taylor, we’re all going to die.
Whenever Burrow is back, he won’t be running a preseason offense. Taylor is going to let Burrow really play.
“The whole point is you’re putting him in there when you feel like he’s fully ready to go and can handle the full game load,” Taylor said. “You never know what situation is going to come up in a game or put you in a situation where your quarterback’s got to be able to operate. So I think that all factors into the decision.”
My big concern is that Burrow only has two days of 11-on-11 reps under his belt right now. Back in 2022, Burrow suffered an appendectomy on the first day of training camp. He missed the entirety of camp, had a very brief window to get ready for Week 1 and then saw the field poorly as he threw four picks in a bad game against the Steelers.
“I think that’s different,” Taylor said. “He did it reporting day of training camp (in 2022). How I view those situations differently was he went through an entire training camp plus two games (this year), and has been throwing recently, not only this week but with trainers and things like that. That one (in 2022) was no throwing until Monday of the game.”
The following year, Burrow missed most of camp due to a calf strain and had another bad Week 1 performance (there were more variables in this game, though. He couldn’t really move due to the lingering injury, and he was also playing in a terrible rain in Cleveland).
How cleanly will Burrow see the field in his first game back? Will he have a good enough Spidey sense the danger when it’s coming?
There’s no way to know. This doesn’t feel like a simple cut and dry decision of whether or not to play Burrow this week. The communication between Burrow and Taylor is a pivotal part of the process.
“It’s very conversational,” Taylor said. “It’s very much like me and any of you having a conversation. Me letting him know about my concerns, just full transparency. That’s what every conversation has been that we’ve had for over a week — just full transparency. We’re at that place where I’m going to tell you everything I think, the pros, the cons, and I want to hear the same from you. He has done a great job communicating. We’re totally on the same page.”
Whenever Burrow is back on the field for the Bengals, Taylor said that he’ll have to keep an eye on him as the game unfolds and gather information that shapes how you call plays. That’s not necessarily something new. He had to do the same thing with Joe Flacco a few weeks ago when there was a lot of uncertainty with Flacco’s shoulder injury.
Taylor knows Burrow’s body language very well, and he’ll make necessary adjustments as the game goes on whenever Burrow is back.
“We’ve called 100-something games here,” Taylor said. “That’s all a part of it. That’s in the back of your mind. You want him to be in position where he can be out there and you can call a game how you’ve always called it. You factor in anything that happens with personnel beyond that. They’ll be no different when he plays. Whenever that is. We’ll take all of that into consideration.”
Then, there’s the fact that if Burrow played on Sunday, he’d have to turn around in a short week and face the Ravens four days later.
“It’s two games in five days,” Taylor said. “It’s part of the equation.”
The next milestone will be at 4 p.m. on Saturday. That’s the deadline to activate a player off of IR before a game. If Burrow isn’t activated tomorrow afternoon, then he definitely won’t play and Flacco will start. Taylor also said that Burrow being activated off of IR on Saturday doesn’t necessarily mean that Burrow will be starting.
Theoretically, they could just be buying Burrow more time and he could still be inactive against the Patriots.
The potential of Burrow’s return has created a palpable shift in energy inside of the locker room. The Bengals are still 3-7 with their playoff hopes effectively dead, but having Burrow back on the practice field helps morale. Having him back in a game, whenever that is, will do even more of that. Burrow returning so far ahead of schedule and leading a Bengals’ team missing Ja’Marr Chase to a win over a 9-2 Patriots team would be one of the coolest moments of Burrow’s career.
Taylor has a decision to make this weekend, and it’s one of the more nuanced decisions of his head coaching career.
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