Could Joe Burrow make surprise return vs. Patriots? Bengals leave door open

CINCINNATI — For the first time in more than two months, Joe Burrow was a full participant at practice for the Cincinnati Bengals. The team’s star quarterback actually returned to practice last week, but he was a limited participant in each session. The fact that he’s now fully able to participate in practice means that he’s just taken one giant step closer to a possible return. 

It’s still unclear when Burrow will be able to return to game action, but Bengals coach Zac Taylor did add some intrigue to the situation during an interview on Thursday morning. During a talk with 700 WLW in Cincinnati, Taylor was asked point blank if Burrow would be the starter on Sunday against the New England Patriots. 

“I’m not there yet,” Taylor said, via SI.com. “You know, one day of practice isn’t going to lead to that decision yet. So we’ll use the time we have at our disposal and come up with the best decision we can.”

The quarterback questions actually started on Wednesday when Taylor gave a noncommittal answer about Joe Flacco’s status for this week. Flacco is dealing with a shoulder injury, and Taylor wasn’t ready to commit to him when he was asked if the 40-year would be starting against New England. 

“We’ll keep working through it and see how we go through the week,” Taylor said. 

Flacco was a limited participant in Wednesday’s practice due to the shoulder injury, but that’s not anything new. Since suffering the injury in Week 8, the Bengals have basically been giving Flacco each Wednesday off. Taylor was asked on Wednesday if there was any scenario where Burrow might play against the Patriots, and once again, he wasn’t willing to offer a definitive answer. 

“Until we get through some practices, there’s no reason for me to even speculate on that,” Taylor said. 

With Flacco sitting out of practice on Wednesday, that gave Burrow a chance to get some reps with the first team. One thing Burrow wasn’t able to do last week while he was limited was participate in 11-on-11 drills, but he did that on Wednesday.

“I was pleased,” Taylor told WLW. “I thought he looked good on the first day, taking 11-on-11 reps, and so that was a great starting point for him and hadn’t done that for two months. So I was pleased with what I saw.”

Before Wednesday, Burrow hadn’t fully participated in a Bengals practice since Sept. 12, and then, just two days later, he suffered a Grade 3 turf toe injury in a 31-27 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Burrow was placed on injured reserve shortly after that and that’s where he’s been ever since. The Bengals activated his 21-day practice window on Nov. 10 and they now have until Dec. 1 to decide whether to move him to the active roster. Based on the fact that he’s now fully practicing, it seems like it’s only a matter of time before they activate him. Burrow has missed a total of eight games so far and the Bengals have gone 1-7 in his absence. 

Taylor doesn’t seem quite ready to commit to a quarterback for Sunday’s game, but he seemed happy that Burrow was able to get some first-team reps while Flacco was out. 

“It’s kind of a balance of Joe Flacco hasn’t been practicing on Wednesdays, so it was a great opportunity to get Joe Burrow out there to take as many reps as possible,” Taylor said. “So yeah, he took all the reps, but that was a balance with [Flacco], who has not been practicing on Wednesdays for the last few weeks, and so we’ll just keep working through these next couple of days.”

Will Burrow actually play on Sunday? 

This is now the big question and although we don’t have a definitive answer from Taylor, the guess here would be that he doesn’t play this week against the Patriots although the decision seems to be genuinely up in the air. If Burrow wants to play and is healthy enough to play, it certainly could happen. 

The argument for keeping Burrow on ice this week is simple: If the Bengals were to play Burrow on Sunday, that would mean that he’d have to play two games in five days — the Bengals play the Ravens on Thanksgiving in Week 13 — and it’s highly unlikely that they would ask him to do that. Also, Ja’Marr Chase will be serving a one-game suspension this week, so Burrow would be returning without his favorite receiver on the field. 

If Burrow doesn’t play Sunday, it seems like a lock at this point that he would then return on Thanksgiving. Burrow has only spoken with the media once since his injury and that came back on Nov. 10. During that interview, the Bengals QB gave a one-word answer when asked how meaningful it would be for him to return against the Ravens on Thanksgiving night. 

“Very,” Burrow said. 

Burrow has been targeting a Thanksgiving return and now, that seems even more likely. If that doesn’t happen it could also be pushed to Week 14. 

CBS Sports sideline reporter Melanie Collins talked to the Bengals on Sunday morning and was given two possible dates. “I was told by the Bengals this morning that Week 13 against the Ravens is a possibility, as is Week 14 against the Bills. But as of now, no definitive return date for Joe Burrow,” Collins said during the Bengals’ 34-12 loss to the Steelers on Sunday. 

Of course, even if he’s healthy enough to play, the Bengals need to figure out if it even makes sense to put him back on the field. CBSSports.com NFL writer Tyler Sullivan doesn’t think the Bengals should bring Burrow back under any circumstance this year due to the fact that their season is already lost (You can read his full reasoning here). The season would go from bad to worse if Burrow returned only to get injured again. 

Back on Nov. 10, Burrow was actually asked if the team’s record would factor into his decision to possibly return and he mostly sidestepped the question. 

“We’ll see how these next couple of weeks go,” Burrow said. “We’ll see how it feels. We’ll make a decision when the time comes.”

If Burrow wants to play, it’s hard to imagine the Bengals stopping him, especially if he’s fully cleared and 100% healthy. And now that he’s once again a full participant at practice, it only seems like a matter of time before he’s back on the field whether that’s Sunday against the Patriots or Thanksgiving night against the Ravens.