He’s the “stone-cold killer” of the NFL, but “unbelievable” could be destroyed by a fatal flaw. QB
The NFL world held its breath when Joe Burrow was sacked in the fourth quarter and clutched at his knee, grimacing in pain.
Burrow had experienced this previously, writhing in agony on the ground and being carted off the pitch during his rookie season due to tears in both his ACL and MCL.
Although the exact nature of Burrow’s injury from Monday is still unknown, the fact that everyone anticipated it only adds to the frustration and difficulty of witnessing it.
The Cincinnati Bengals were informed well in advance of Super Bowl LVI that they needed to strengthen their offensive line in order to better guard Burrow or run the risk of damaging the star quarterback.
Three weeks prior, Burrow had become just the third quarterback in playoff history to be sacked nine times during a 19-16 victory over the Tennessee Titans.
While acknowledging that there were “moments the offensive line could have been better… it wasn’t all on them,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor at the time attempted to deflect criticism.
Following Monday’s Super Bowl, Taylor reiterated the same message once more, though it’s safe to assume that he and the other Cincinnati officials will say something different in private.
“In the initial part of the protection was tremendous… in the second half it got difficult,” he said.
It will demonstrate that Burrow is under pressure on 43% of dropbacks and that he only averages 6.3 air yards per try.
It will demonstrate that the Rams defensive line dominated and the Bengals offensive line did the opposite, as everyone saw coming and as Taylor would have predicted.
The Rams, led by Aaron Donald, Von Miller, and Leonard Floyd, were the league leaders in pass-rush win rate going into Monday’s championship game, while Cincinnati was ranked 30th in the league for pass-block win rate.
The Bengals’ pass block win percentage of 14% at the end of the game was the lowest of any team this season, which was a surefire recipe for disaster.
Stated differently, the Rams had an 86 per cent pass rush win rate — the best by any team in any game this season.
