Jake Browning, a former Husky quarterback, is starting for the Bengals in their Apple Cup rematch with Gardner Minshew. Sunday
This week, there are other quarterbacks from the University of Washington who get a chance to shine like Michael Penix Jr.A few days prior to Penix’s scheduled appearance on the Heisman Trophy stage in New York as one of four finalists, former Husky signal-caller Jake Browning was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week.
Browning, who started the season as Cincinnati star Joe Burrow’s backup, won the award following a strong showing for the Bengals on Monday night, when they defeated Jacksonville 34-31 in overtime. Browning finished with 32 completions on 37 attempts for 354 yards, one passing touchdown, and one rushing touchdown.
To the joy of former UW head coach Chris Petersen, the Folsom, Calif., kid is now getting his moment to shine after a record-breaking career on Montlake as he enters his fifth pro season.
For Petersen, witnessing Browning have his much-awaited chance is cause for celebration. Without frequent snaps in practice or competition, it’s difficult to get better at a sport, but Petersen was confident that Browning was the one who could.
Whatever his position on that squad, Petersen stated, “I know for a fact that guy practices like he’s the starter.” “I discovered during his freshman year that he has an unmatched work ethic and consistently goes above and beyond every day.”
After graduating in 2019 as the Pac-12’s all-time winningest quarterback, the Huskies’ all-time passing leader, and the fourth-leading passer in conference history with 12,296 career yards, Petersen, an analyst for Fox Sports, expressed his confusion about Browning’s lack of draft selection.Browning’s story has always revolved around his alleged lack of arm power, a criticism that Petersen seen Browning battle valiantly to overcome during his NFL career.
Petersen stated, “He’s been working on that for a while.” “To move the ball faster without sacrificing accuracy.” And even after he left us, I believe his arm power had significantly increased because I saw him throw once. That was maybe a year ago. That’s why I believe it’s all of those things. The way he moves in the pocket and when he makes passes is simply so subtle. The foresight, precision, and arm power. I am aware that he has improved in all those areas.
The fact that Browning has made such progress without having many opportunities to play in the NFL has even more pleased Petersen. After spending time on the practice squads of Cincinnati and Minnesota throughout his first four full professional seasons, Browning finally made it onto the Bengals roster this year after defeating Trevor Semien to take the backup quarterback position.
He played in Week 1 of the regular season for the first time in his career, but Burrow’s injury to his wrist in Week 11 prevented him from getting a longer look. Browning has completed 75.6% of his throws for 649 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception in his four games of action.
All of that from a quarterback who hadn’t started a match since the Huskies’ Rose Bowl loss to Ohio State on January 1, 2019.
According to Browning, “you never know until you try,” as he put it during his press conference on Thursday. “I’m doing well at last, but I want to stress that this was just one excellent game. Therefore, let’s play a few of those back-to-back and avoid being that guy who plays well one Monday night and then kind of fades away.
