Joe Burrow sets expectations for 2024 NFL season as Bengals QB recovers from wrist injury
The Cincinnati Bengals have had quite a lot of success in the Joe Burrow era. They've made it to the Super Bowl once and twice to the AFC Championship Game. But injuries to their quarterback have also held them back from reaching their full potential.
Burrow knows this. Speaking to Complex Sports, he said that his priority is to stay healthy. He mentioned that understanding his body and getting through the NFL season is going to be a major area of improvement.
"Well, number one, I want to be on the field for all the games," Burrow said. I know I'm going to play well when I'm out there. I'm at that point in my career where I've seen enough ball and I know myself that I can go out there and play as well as anybody in the game."
Burrow added:
"The biggest strides this year are going to be my body and learning how to get through the season, get through practices with my body, feeling tip, top shape. And so that's the main focus for the off-season."
As successful as Joe Burrow has been on the field, injuries have been a consistent part of his NFL career and have affected his quarterbacking. He suffered a torn ACL, MCL, PCL, and meniscus in November 2020, which cut short his rookie season.
In July 2022, Burrow underwent an appendectomy, which sidelined him for the preseason. In August 2023, Burrow suffered another blow with the Bengals QB straining his right calf, which put him in jeopardy of missing the start of the season.
When the momentum finally started to pick up for Burrow and the Bengals, he suffered a torn ligament in his right wrist in a Week 11 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. This injury ended his 2023 NFL season prematurely.
Bengals QB Joe Burrow has leaned on piano to rehab from injured wrist
Speaking to Complex Sports, Joe Burrow said that he has been taking piano classes and wants to get better at playing the instrument by next offseason. The Bengals QB added piano to help him rehab his injured wrist.
"I’m learning the piano right now, hopefully I can get pretty good at that by next offseason. I guess it'll be pretty tough during the season, but it's helped my rehab too for my wrist, so that's something I want to get good at."
Burrow continued, explaining how learning piano helped him with recovery:
"I've always wanted to learn how to play, but this was an opportune time to work on my hand and wrist dexterity while also learning that. So it was kind of the perfect storm."
A healthy Joe Burrow has been one of the top quarterbacks in the league, if not the best. All eyes will be on the Cincinnati Bengals and Burrow heading into the 2024 NFL season, who are considered by many to be the biggest threat to Kansas City Chiefs' three-peat.