Bengals tempting fate by playing Joe Burrow in preseason finale

After initially indicating they’d probably hold him out until Week 1, the Bengals are throwing caution to the wind by having Joe Burrow play in the preseason finale.

Coming off a major knee injury last November, Joe Burrow did not play in the Bengals’ first two preseason games as he got through some rust and mental hurdles. On Wednesday, ahead of Sunday’s preseason finale against the Miami Dolphins, head coach Zac Taylor said Burrow will play a limited number of snaps in the game.

Back toward the start of training camp, Burrow said he wanted to play in the preseason. That went against what Taylor and owner Mike Brown said, as they each declared it unlikely Burrow would play before Week 1. The question has not really been the condition of his knee as he works his way back, it’s just that preseason games represent unneccessary risk.

The Bengals forgetting their prior caution by playing Joe Burrow in preseason finale

Much has been made of Burrow’s camp struggles, if only based on the mental hurdle he’s trying to get over with his knee. Perhaps playing in a live game, even if only for a series, will be the last frontier of that hurdle. Back in late-July during his aforementioned press conference, here’s what Burrow said.

“We’ll have that discussion with Zac and ownership,” Burrow said. “I’d like to go out there and feel the rush at least a couple times. Don’t have to play the full game, but I would like to get out there a little bit.”

If there was a (presumably recent) discussion about him playing in the preseason, and Taylor remained on the side of being hesitant to allow it, Burrow won and will get his way on Sunday in the meaningless preseason finale. The Bengals and their fans will be crossing their fingers he leaves the field unscathed, after getting all of however many snaps he’ll be alloted.