Joe Burrow's slow start to the season isn't surprising. It's his injury we should worry about

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Through his admittedly short career so far, Joe Burrow has been one of the NFL’s best five or so quarterbacks. That’s why the dude signed the richest contract in league history a few weeks ago.

But, for whatever reason, the dude cannot seem to figure out the first two weeks of the year.

With the Bengals’ loss to the Ravens on Sunday, Cincinnati is now 0-2 on the season. In those two games, Burrow has only completed about 57 percent of his passes for 304 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. That’s not good enough and certainly not what’s expected of the richest player in the NFL.

This is easy to dismiss, though. Believe it or not, this is pretty normal for him. Burrow is one of those players who traditionally starts slowly when the season begins.

This stat from the Gojo and Golic show demonstrates it perfectly: Burrow is a paltry 1-7 throughout his career in the first two weeks of each season. He’s only thrown for 12 touchdowns and tossed nine interceptions.

GoJo and Golic are talking about how bad Joe Burrow and the 0-2 Bengals have been https://t.co/OawFRLqzJD pic.twitter.com/H5gEMNnJrh

— GoJo and Golic (@GoJoandGolic) September 18, 2023

That’s not good. Yet, he’s still been mostly awesome. He was in the running for MVP last year. There’s no reason to give up on the dude and the Bengals just yet.

Still, though, this start should be a bit concerning for Bengals fans so far. Not because of his play, but because of his injury.

Burrow tweaked the same calf injury that kept him out of training camp and the preseason. It didn’t even take much for it to happen. He was scrambling to try and create a play — normal Burrow stuff — and he just seemed to tweak it.

#JoeBurrow @Bengals
Calf injuries linger pic.twitter.com/w0jck6XxUu

— David J. Chao – ProFootballDoc (@ProFootballDoc) September 17, 2023

Calf injuries don’t just go away. They can get worse. They can also lead to more severe injuries down the line. Hopefully, this isn’t what happens with Burrow. The Bengals need to treat this one with plenty of care.

That might mean sitting him down for a few weeks and resting him. That’s tough to do considering the team’s standing at the moment, but it could be better for Burrow’s career.

As of now, Burrow wants to give it a “couple more sleeps,” according to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, and then see how it feels. Hopefully, it’s nothing.

But Burrow and the Bengals need to tread carefully here with his career. Even if that means it might be time to sink the season.

We’re all Monday Night Football test dummies tonight

Don’t worry. You’re not tripping. Yes, there are two football games on tonight’s schedule.

• First, we have the Saints @ Panthers at 7:15 p.m. ET
• We also have the Browns @ Steelers at 8:15 p.m. ET

The Monday Night Football doubleheader is back again, folks. Two primetime NFL football games on ESPN at the same time. It’s strange, yes. But, if you recall, this actually started last season. There’s a MNF doubleheader three times per year now since the NFL agreed to a new media rights deal granting Disney access more games.

ESPN is using that to test our viewership habits, company president Burke Magnus said in an interview with The Athletic’s Richard Deitsch. The company wants to see what you’re more likely to watch, when you’re more likely to watch it and where.

“We’re going to learn more about what optimizes best, and I think by next year we’ll continue to hone on driving the biggest viewership between the two games … We will learn if it is better to start with the ABC game, the ESPN game, or the other way around.”

That’s kind of brilliant. Typically with a doubleheader, we’d get a super late West Coast game, but ESPN is punting on that to continue to serve it’s audience in the East, too. They’ll see a massive viewership number because of that.

Is this a little weird? Sure.  But is anyone going to complain about more football at earlier times? Absolutely not. Cook, ESPN.

While you were obsessing over football …

It was a great football Sunday. For more on everything that went down, read Christian D’Andrea on the best things about Week 2 in the NFL and the worst quarterback performances.

In the meantime, though, there was lots of action across the rest of the sports world:

• The Rays lost to the Orioles on Sunday, but both teams came out victorious. Baltimore and Tampa Bay both clinched playoff spots in the AL East following a Rangers loss to the Guardians. Not shocking at all, obviously. But don’t ask me who will win the division. I have no idea. The O’s currently have a two-game lead over Tampa for first place.
• No. 13 ranked Alabama is out of the AP poll’s top 10 for the first time since 2015. The Crimson Tide may have won this weekend against South Florida, but the team looked awful. Quarterback is a huge question right now. Things might get worse this weekend going up against No. 15 Ole Miss, who is actually facing a bit of its own controversy right now with Lane Kiffin being sued by a former player.
• A’ja Wilson’s brilliant 38-point, 16-rebound performance pushed the Las Vegas Aces into the WNBA semifinals once again for the fourth straight year. The Aces are the first team to advance to the next round so far. The Minnesota Lynx managed to force a winner-take-all Game 3 against the Connecticut Sun. Should be fun.
• Mike Babcock is out in Columbus already and he didn’t even coach a single game. He resigned from his head coaching position after the NHL announced an investigation into alleged privacy violations with his players. Babcock reportedly asked to see the photos on his players’ phones. Gross.

Quick hits: Coach Prime says he’s the best … the MLB’s full playoff picture … and more

— Deion Sanders thinks he’s the best coach in college football? Wow. I’m truly shocked by that. Who would’ve guessed? Prince Grimes has more.

— Charles Curtis has you covered on the full breadth of the MLB’s playoff picture right now.

— Robert Zeglinski is giving out Week 2 awards. Sorry, Broncos fans. This isn’t a happy one for you.

— The public absolutely SMOKED the over/unders in the NFL this week. Ben Fawkes has more.

— Linemen have hands, too. Patrick Mahomes just showed us — even if it was illegal. Prince has you covered on this one.

— Meghan Hall has more on the cancellation of HBO’s Winning Time. What a show, man. I’m going to miss it.

That’s all, folks! Happy Monday. Have a fantastic week.