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Ben Baby, ESPN Staff WriterSep 25, 2024, 08:35 PM ET
- Ben Baby covers the Cincinnati Bengals for ESPN. He joined the company in July 2019. Prior to ESPN, he worked for various newspapers in Texas, most recently at The Dallas Morning News where he covered college sports. He provides daily coverage of the Bengals for ESPN.com, while making appearances on SportsCenter, ESPN’s NFL shows and ESPN Radio programs. A native of Grapevine, Texas, he graduated from the University of North Texas with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He is an adjunct journalism professor at Southern Methodist University and a member of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA).
CINCINNATI — Joe Burrow admitted he has never had a vocal leadership style.
But with the Bengals winless in their first three games and facing a spry Carolina Panthers squad on the road this weekend, Cincinnati’s star quarterback said he would be speaking up a bit more throughout this week.
“I’m usually a lead by example kind of guy,” Burrow said in his weekly news conference Wednesday. “But I think I can pick my spots to say some more things. I’ll find those spots this week.”
Burrow said he hasn’t started with that approach yet, but he’ll find a time ahead of Sunday’s game at Bank of America Stadium. He said it could be beneficial for some of the less seasoned players on the roster.
“We got a lot of young guys that we’re counting on that haven’t really been here before, [to] have them hear my voice more might be beneficial,” Burrow said.
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The Bengals (0-3) are off to their worst start since 2019, the year before the franchise drafted Burrow with the first overall pick in 2020. Since then, Cincinnati has played in back-to-back AFC championship games against Kansas City in the 2021 and 2022 postseasons, with a win in the first meeting that sent the franchise to its first Super Bowl in 33 years.
But after the most recent loss, a 38-33 defeat to the Washington Commanders on Monday, Burrow said the postseason was the furthest thing from his mind. He reiterated the sentiment Wednesday, adding that the team had a good walkthrough and the most important thing was getting its first win this weekend against the Panthers.
Going back to his days in high school and in college at Ohio State and then LSU, Burrow said he picked his spots on when to be vocal. Historically, he hasn’t been shy about speaking up when discussing some of the technical areas of the game. But when it comes to a big-picture discussion, he has not done it and still won’t dabble in it heavily.
But the situation merits an increase in that area. And it still has to be genuine, which is something Bengals coach Zac Taylor said was not a problem with his starting quarterback.
“That’s the beauty of Joe Burrow,” Taylor said Wednesday. “He’s not going to be somebody he’s not. He’s not going to force something. He’s going to be genuine. He knows the right time to speak his mind and lead in certain ways.”
Some of that started immediately after the loss to Washington, when Burrow followed Taylor through a door that leads to the coaches’ offices. Burrow said it was a “positive conversation” and that even though the team is winless, the season is far from over.
Taylor downplayed the interaction Wednesday.
“I guess I just went in the wrong door is the biggest issue there,” Taylor said.
Joe Burrow has admittedly never had a vocal leadership style, but with the Bengals still winless and facing a spry Panthers team on the road Sunday, the star QB said he would be finding spots to speak up a bit more this week. Ian Johnson/Icon Sportswire
But Burrow hopes whatever is being said behind closed doors will help Cincinnati end its early season skid.
Bengals defensive end Sam Hubbard said the start has been frustrating for a lot of people, including himself. Hubbard has dealt with injuries as he ranks next-to-last in pass rush win rate among edge rushers (ESPN metric via NFL Next Gen Stats).
Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo said Hubbard suffered a hamstring injury in training camp but would “continue to get stronger and better” each week.
According to a source, Hubbard suffered a Grade 3 hamstring injury, the highest in severity. Hubbard did not want to discuss his health Wednesday.
“I don’t want to talk about injuries,” Hubbard said. “I think I definitely could play better — fixing my mistakes, getting with my coach, getting a rotation going.”
Despite the lingering frustration, Hubbard said with Burrow leading the way, there was hope a win is just around the corner.
“Joe gives us the ultimate belief,” Hubbard said. “Having that guy as our quarterback we can win any game we go into. That’s not always the case in the past, but now that we have Joe that’s the belief in this locker room that any game we go into we can win against anybody. That’s the truth and we believe that.”
