Burrow smiles at the mention of the Dec. 19, 2021 win in Denver that kept the Super Bowl season alive. He threw just 22 times, but 15 completions (for that 68.5%) went for 157 yards.
"A big part of the games in that year was me running the football on third down at the end of games," Burrow says. "Get back to that a little bit. Run the ball, play-action first and second down, and then third down is where I get to go and make a play. I know I have to take on that role."
Sometimes it didn't look great in camp, but Burrow says that's not because they were under center. It's because who they were under center against.
"I feel really good about the camp that we had and practicing that. I don't think we'd want to do that against our defense," Burrow says. "We would want to stay in the gun and get it out. But there will be defenses that we do want to get under center and run it and play action and throw the ball down the field.
"It kind of depends on the team that we're playing, the front that we're playing, how they choose to attack you on defense, and that's part of being in a better spot as a team where we can be multiple in that way."
Burrow is as economical with his words as he is with his passes. He knows that can sometimes light up the sky. Such as his recent "now or never," vow. He says it wasn't meant to be an ultimatum. Just a declaration.
"I'm efficient with my words, and when I'm efficient with my words, that leaves some room for interpretation," Burrow says. "But I mean what I say. I'm here for the long haul. I'm not going anywhere. I'm just trying to bring a now-or-never mentality to the day-by-day process. If you're not, what are you doing? Attack the day with a championship mindset. The rest will take care of itself."
It turns out that Burrow is talking on Bengals founder Paul Brown's 118th birthday, another quarterback who re-invented himself along the way. He's reminded yet again that bond he shares with Brown as an Ohio State quarterback who transferred and found national fame.
"I'm just really proud to be quarterback of the Bengals," Burrow says. "I'm happy to be here. I'm proud to represent the city of Cincinnati, state of Ohio, the Brown family. I'm just proud and I want to make everybody else proud, too."
As he gets out of the chair flicking the most lethal right wrist in the game, it'd as if he's looking for another ball to throw.
"It's just about getting better," he says.