Just How Concerned Should the Bengals be about Joe Burrow’s Back Tightness???

Joe Burrow says it is back tightness. A reporter kept asking about his shoulder anyway. And the desk at The Rich Eisen Show could not stop thinking about the word "if."

Burrow took a hard hit in the season opener on a third down tuck and run, a shot from Alex Anzalone that the crew agreed looks every bit as rough on replay. The official word out of Cincinnati is back tightness. The desk wondered aloud if it might really be a shoulder, since, as one of them put it, "your shoulder is connected to your back. It's all one."

"And shoulders, knees, and toes," came the reply.

Burrow's own outlook was blunt. "I feel good. It's normal game day soreness, that's for sure, but I'll be all right," he said, adding that mental reps and walkthroughs mean his preparation "shouldn't really" be affected. Asked whether any part of him wanted to sit Sunday out of caution, he did not leave much room. "That's ridiculous. You know, every game is so important to me. I'm going to do what it takes to be out there. If I'm not getting surgery, I'll be out there."

That line landed differently on this particular day. Rich was out after an emergency appendectomy, and the desk immediately made the connection. Someone immediately compared it to Rich, followed by a get-well message: "Rich, get back in here soon, buddy."

The laughs gave way to the real worry pretty fast. The fear is that Burrow becomes a "what if" quarterback, and the desk called that a potential tragedy. One member of the crew owns Burrow in two fantasy leagues and admitted hearing the injury news was a gut punch, then pointed out that real Bengals fans have it worse.

The history is what makes this sting. The desk walked through it season by season. In 2021 Burrow led the league in completion percentage and the Bengals went to the Super Bowl. The next year he played a full season, went 12-4 and lost in the playoffs. He played only 10 games in 2023. In 2024 he led the league in passing yards, touchdowns, yards per game, completions and attempts, and the defense still had the Bengals playing shootouts. Last year, only eight games. By the desk's count, that is three full seasons out of a possible six. "He had an appendectomy, too," someone added, which did not help the mood.

"We love Joe Burrow. We love watching him play," the desk said. "Obviously, a dynamic, superstar quarterback when fully, fully healthy."

The hopeful read is that this is Week 1 maintenance, a precautionary day and nothing more. The crew also floated some creative medicine: get Burrow the guy who has been working on Matthew Stafford, or, better yet, "get Rich's guy."

There was real reason for optimism on the other side of the ball. The Bengals defense forced four turnovers in the opener, and the desk flagged that as a possible truth for this season, a unit that looks like it is back to the days when Lou Anarumo had it "just crushing it." It still gave up 27 points, but four takeaways is "nothing to sniff at."

That defense will be needed Sunday against a Houston team that put up 31 and looked like it was clicking. The desk called it a sneaky candidate for game of the weekend and maybe an AFC Championship preview, with a lean toward the Texans at home, and a watch on Nico Collins' hamstring, which is not considered serious. It will also offer a useful comparison, Josh Allen against that Houston defense one week, Burrow the next. If Burrow is out there. And by his own standard, he will be, unless someone is scheduling surgery.