Scenes from Joe Burrow's season-ending wrist injury: 'I had no idea'

When Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow fell on top of his right wrist on Thursday night in a game against the Baltimore Ravens, no one knew that anything was wrong.

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor dialed up a pass to running back Joe Mixon with the Bengals in the red zone. Burrow relayed the play call with the same tone that he always does. Backup quarterback Jake Browning –– who said his job is based on preparing for the situation where Burrow gets hurt –– stood on the other side of the field and didn’t start to stretch.

'Gotta grind it out': Joe Burrow expected to miss rest of 2023 season with torn ligament

'This is a completely new injury': Joe Burrow explains wrist sleeve seen in deleted video

NFL injury report policy: Joe Burrow's wrist injury raises red flag

Then, over the next 10 minutes, everyone at M&T Bank Stadium had a moment where they recognized the severity of what just took place.

Taylor knew something was off when Burrow threw a wobbly pass to Mixon. Browning started stretching when he saw the way Burrow finished his follow through. Other players didn’t know much until word spread on the sideline or when Browning took the field.

At the time, Burrow didn’t even know the severity of what had just taken place.

“Sometimes you don’t even feel what’s happening to your body in those situations just because of the moment and the adrenaline,” Burrow said. “When you’re on the field, I wouldn’t ever describe anything on the field as pain. You’re just kind of in the moment.”

Worst fears turned out to be true

About 12 hours after the Bengals’ 34-20 loss to the Ravens, Burrow learned that he tore a ligament in his wrist and would have season-ending surgery.

During those 12 hours, the Bengals’ Super Bowl hopes died. The beginning of the end of the season started when Burrow felt a pop in his wrist, doubled over in pain and went to the medical tent on the sideline to be evaluated.

While Burrow was being evaluated, the offensive line was going over adjustments on the sideline. Browning said, “Everyone started asking about this wrist thing. I had no idea why. I thought they were talking about someone else on the team.”

'This is a completely new injury': Joe Burrow explains wrist sleeve seen in deleted video

Joe Burrow injury: Exploring possible free agent QBs for Cincinnati Bengals

The receivers spoke with assistant coach Troy Walters. Most of them didn’t know what was going on until Burrow went to the locker room.

“I couldn’t pay attention,” wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase said. “I was trying to be locked in on the game.”

“I had no idea,” wide receiver Trenton Irwin said. “Then word spread.”

Before Burrow tried to throw, he had a quick conversation with Browning. Browning joked, “Good thing you threw a touchdown there to give me a little more time to warm up because I haven’t moved in a little while.”

“Then he basically tried to throw,” Browning said.

Browning was thrown into the fire

The ball slipped out of Burrow’s hands, and he couldn’t grip it. He went to the locker room for further evaluation, and Browning entered the game without an NFL completion to his name.

At that point, Taylor faced a decision. With just over two minutes left in the first half, the Bengals could take the conservative route and try to run out the clock. The Bengals could have tried to reset at halftime, evaluate where Burrow was at, and figure out a path forward.

Instead, Taylor called a play where Browning scrambled and completed a 12-yard pass to Irwin. Browning was aggressive for the entirety of the drive.

“You just have to assume in those moments that it's Jake for the rest of the game,” Taylor said. “That's what you have to assume, but (there’s) no information on that.”

The Bengals made it past midfield but punted the ball back to the Ravens, who tacked on another touchdown and took a 21-10 lead into halftime. During the break, the Bengals determined that Burrow would miss the rest of the game. The message at halftime was “We still believe because we still prepare. Guys are here for a reason.”

But nothing is the same without Burrow.

“Obviously, Joe’s a big loss,” safety Jordan Battle said. “He’s the best quarterback in the league. It’s going to affect any team if he goes down.”

Mixon addressed the team after the game, saying, “Take it one rep at a time. One practice at a time.”

On Friday morning, Burrow got an MRI that determined the severity of the injury. When he spoke to the media on Friday afternoon, Burrow said that he hadn’t had enough time to dive into the details on his upcoming surgery and his return timeline. He said that he had been busy going over film with Browning.

Burrow says he'll be around to help

Burrow spent the second half on Thursday night acting like he was the backup quarterback. When Browning went back to the sideline, Burrow had advice.

“I was like, 'I wish I would have done this,’ ” Browning said.

“Joe was like, ‘I think you threw it to the right guy, and it was an accurate ball.’ ”

That back-and-forth continued on Friday morning.

“(We’ll) watch the tape together,” Burrow said. “Just try to give him any insight on things that I've experienced and watched in my mindset playing over the last couple years. I'll give him as much or as little as he wants. He's going to do a great job."

Taylor’s message to the team on Friday was that he was excited to see how a talented roster would rally around this adversity. Burrow plans to be around the team as he rehabs. Usually, he tries to be a lead-by-example guy. Now, Burrow said his job is to boost morale.

Even after the Bengals’ hopes for the season went up in smoke, the franchise quarterback said that he didn’t want the standard for the season to change.

“I'm going to lean on those guys throughout this whole process, and they're going to continue to go out and win games without me,” Burrow said. “That's what has to happen. They're going to continue to grind it out. It's a tough season. It's a long season, but we've got the guys to continue to win games and make the playoffs and put ourselves in a good position at the end."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Scenes from Joe Burrow's season-ending wrist injury: 'I had no idea'