Joe Burrow on MVP Race, Signing Stars Like Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins

Cincinnati Bengals On SI

Transcript

00:00did you get the MVP chance when you went off the field? I did. What were your thoughts?

00:05I'll win one one day. You feel like this year might be your point or no? I doubt it. Why?

00:14Usually you got to win your division. Do you do you think like that's an outdated part of

00:18how it happens or is it just something it just kind of is what it is? It is what it is that's

00:25that's how it's voted. I don't necessarily disagree with it I would say. You did finish

00:31number two in global voting for the quarterback position. Does that mean anything to you? It does

00:36mean something to me. I didn't quite expect that so that was a nice surprise. You do think you'll

00:45get MVP one day though? One day. You'll be probably the young Trump fan that's going to

00:52come back one of the year for the second time. What would that mean for you to win it twice

00:56especially in such a short time span? This might be more meaningful maybe than the other one.

01:01Yeah that one I would be proud of. I'm not sure anybody's won it twice before.

01:06Not off the top of my head. Not exactly. I think one person won it twice. Not exactly an award you

01:16want to be up for but if you're up for it you might as well try to win it. You talk about

01:21in order to win the MVP you probably have to win your division but when you guys were at your best

01:26in 21 and 22 you did really well in the division the last couple of years. It hasn't been the case

01:32with a chance to kind of get that right that wrong this week against the Steelers. Obviously

01:38this game speaks volumes of how important it is but like do you do you find it extra important

01:42for you guys to play well against the Steelers to kind of show like we have got to start playing

01:48better against our division teams to get where we want to go in the future? I'm not sure I think

01:52about it that way. You know anytime you play a divisional opponent it's a big game and you know

01:59this one is no different. It means a lot to the city, to the organization, to the owners,

02:06coaches, players and this is a big game for our season as well. What's it like to not

02:13be in control? Obviously you guys want to win and finish with five straight wins but

02:17you don't control your destiny. Yeah it's not great. We put ourselves in this spot so

02:22can't complain about it but we can control what we can control and that's going out and

02:28trying to win a game on on Saturday night. Do you prefer that your game is before the help you need?

02:35I don't think it matters to me. What's the what's the biggest difference you think in y'all

02:40now than the last time y'all played for a compete?

02:44Causing a lot of turnovers on defense that's positive. You know offensively we're playing

02:52as well as we have all year and that's that's exciting but I think we're just

02:57playing complimentary football across the board much better at a much better rate.

03:03How do you feel that maybe on offense when the defense is getting turnovers,

03:07they don't feel it anymore. How do you feel that team winning a game on offense? How does that impact

03:11the way that they operate? Yeah it depends on the game. You get the ball more so it feels like

03:18you're on the field more. You get to run more plays, some more opportunities for explosives

03:23and then you know in some games you you do play it a little differently depending on how the

03:29opposing offense is playing. How is your you know relationships with that team and Jamat

03:35growing through the years to where you are now? Yeah I think it's always been good but every year

03:41you get another year of friendship under your belt, another year of working together and that just

03:48makes the efficiency of communication professionally happen a tick faster and so then you can you know

03:58sometimes that translates on the field sometimes it doesn't but you know there's certain spots where

04:03you can check a route or check a play much much faster than you have in years past. What makes

04:09them so good those two guys? They're really I mean they're much different players but you know they

04:17practice really hard, they work on their bodies, they're smart, they understand what the intent of

04:23each route and each play is and that's where it starts. In a cold weather game what's the most

04:28important thing for you to do to get ready? Not a lot you can do. I mean you try to stay as warm as

04:37you can. You sit on the bench on with the heater on the coat. You know everybody has their process

04:45of how to keep their hand warm and not a lot you can do. You just got to go out and brave the cold

04:53and go try to win a game. Is it as obvious as yeah it's cold out but put that in the back of your

04:58mind or do you feel it? When you're playing you don't really feel it. You're out there running

05:03around focused on other things. If you're not playing and you're standing on the sideline you

05:08definitely feel it. I've been in that spot before but when you're playing you got if you're on the

05:14sideline you got the coat you're on the heated bench. When you're out there playing you're

05:17playing so I've never felt like it was anything crazy. A couple of years ago you said that the

05:23playoff games are where like legacies are built for quarterbacks. Are you looking at this game

05:29in a similar fashion given the importance of this game?

05:35I think you can yeah. I think this is a big game for the Bengals.

05:39You know whether the things happen for for us to to get in at the end or not. This is a fantastic

05:46opportunity on prime time to go and finish the season strong and and end it with a good taste

05:52in your mouth. What's a consistency that stands out from whenever you're playing like not on the

05:56Coach Stewart's team? They're going to make plays on defense. You know you're going to be able to

06:03we've we've had some success with them with against them throwing the ball but

06:07when you have T.J. Watt and Minka and and everybody on that front they're going to make

06:11plays they're going to cause turnovers and there's sometimes there's not a lot that you can do about

06:19that and it's just about staying focused moving on to the next play and and trying to execute each

06:25play the best to the best of your ability. Lando Brown Jr. revealed to us that he's actually playing

06:31on a broken leg right now. What have you seen from him over the past few weeks which have been

06:37probably some of the most difficult in his career? Yeah he's working hard to

06:43take it back out there. I think he played really well on Saturday. You know there's

06:49when you have a guy like that that loves the game loves his teammates wants to be out there for him

06:54you know he's going to do anything that he can to to get back out there and so whenever somebody's

07:00doing that you appreciate it. You've played such a good part in Jamar's career and vice versa for

07:04so many years now what's it like to see him beyond the cost of potential history if he gets that from

07:09the crowd? Yeah I think I think some I think he a couple of them are pretty out of reach for

07:17everybody else. I think the receptions everybody's pretty I think he's got a seven or eight catch

07:24lead something like that make sure he gets it. I mean what's it been like to kind of see

07:31kind of that year? I mean very few guys have done that over the course of their careers and they

07:34all all fingers were in consideration. What's it like to see him kind of enter that stratosphere

07:38even how long ago? It's not surprising he works for it he grinds for it.

07:45He's once in a lifetime type player and you know our careers will forever be tied together

07:55into the pro landscape and so it's just fun to be a part of.

08:04They said we got this recruit from New Orleans that we think is pretty good

08:08that's about all I knew. What would you consider the three most important stats for a quarterback?

08:16Probably yards

08:25completion percentage and touchdowns I guess.

08:30Yeah when you when you play a team for the second time do you try to get in the head of

08:35the defensive coordinator and kind of guess what tweaks and changes they might make or is that

08:38waste of time do you just adjust in real time? I've stopped trying to to think about how defenses

08:44are going to play us a while ago because I would find myself getting into that mindset and then

08:49you get out there and you'd see a bunch of stuff that you hadn't seen before and so at this point

08:55in my career I just I feel like I've seen enough football that I can just read and react on the

09:00fly to to whatever I'm seeing and whatever coverages are thrown at me and I'll be ready for

09:08anything. You said before about the Steelers that they're gonna you got to accept they're

09:11gonna force some turnovers that seems like a pretty mature thing to say like when did you

09:16get as a perfectionist in the mindset that like okay like the ball is going to be turned over

09:20this game? We played there in 2022 and T.J. Watt jumped up caught my ball on a choice route and

09:29then got slammed and I threw a pick and then another time they I was throwing a curl route and

09:37somebody jumped up and tipped it at the line of scrimmage and I threw another pick and there's

09:40just nothing you can do about that so they have great players on on defense that are going to make

09:46plays you just got to go out and make more. It's 5,000 going so you got something to do?

09:52It'd be cool but not really. I don't know if you've seen this Joe but right now you have the

09:58highest completion percentage in NFL history so that's a key thing for you for a triple crown.

10:03What kind of goes into your work making sure you are so accurate with the ball?

10:09Just understanding what the intent of each play is understanding

10:14the guys on on defense that you're putting in stretch stress on their coverage match with your

10:20concept on being fundamental in your in your footwork making quick decisions getting the

10:28ball your guys in space you know maybe it's not going to be the perfect decision but maybe he's

10:33open and you can get it to him fast and you can try to make somebody miss you know I've always

10:38prided myself and getting it to my guys quickly and letting them go run after the catch. Is there

10:44something in the prep work that y'all have done over the last maybe five weeks that's enabled y'all

10:48to be so consistent and not you know put more of the pressure on knowing you got to win out?

10:52No we've been practicing just about the same intensity that we have all year we come to work

10:59every day trying to get better in the last couple weeks we've had more walkthroughs than

11:04practice because guys are banged up but guys are attacking it the right way trying to

11:12take what little reps we do get and it's been transferring over to how we're playing on Sundays.

11:18At this point in the year yeah it seems like I mean is your philosophy

11:24throw whether or not I mean that's just seems to be fine fine completions fine completions it's not

11:30always going to be pretty you're going to get pressured you're going to misread the coverage

11:35but even on plays like that there's usually a completion to be found.

11:39Joe on the subject of not being in control of your own playoff fate going into this weekend

11:46I know you guys are primarily you know focused on the task at hand but I wonder if in the quiet

11:52moments where you're with yourself and your thoughts if you think back to some of the

11:58closed games that got away and have regrets or you know yeah that's about about some of those

12:04and yeah this could be different right now. I'm sure I will I haven't thought about that

12:09right now. I'm sure I will I haven't thought about that currently but you know depending on

12:16you know the next week you know after the season you you'll reflect on those and see

12:20where you can improve. Does this feel like are you thinking about the possibility that

12:24could be the last game you'd have both Tee and Jamal get involved in it and what yourself kind

12:29of think about that? I haven't really thought about that it's obviously a possibility not

12:34not one that I'm excited about but that's not that's not in the plans I would say.

12:42You still have the same confidence you probably did after the Cowboys game that you feel like

12:45you all maybe find a way to keep up. Yeah I think so. In that kind of same vein do you watch games

12:52when you're watching other teams play with players that formerly played here that have gone on to

12:58play really well with their new teams? I mean the fan response sometimes is I wish we could

13:03have kept him or you know why weren't we able to keep X player. Do you do that or do you kind of

13:08just whatever happens you accept it or do you find yourself having a little bit of that spite when you

13:14watch one of your former teammates perform really well for another team? Yeah whenever

13:20whenever a great player leaves you wish you could have found a way to keep them.

13:28You don't you don't want to make a living out of letting great players leave the building

13:36and you know I think that's why you you got to do everything you can to to get those deals done

13:41early. Looking at Saturday the last time you guys met it's a high scoring game there were some

13:47turnovers mixed in there do you kind of anticipate another high scoring game or do you how do you

13:53kind of go into that when you guys are able to put up points and then the second time that they

13:57see you the adjustments that they make? Yeah I'm always ready to go and put up as many points as

14:02we need to and draw back as many times as I need to to go and win. You know I'm preparing for for

14:11anything. What have you seen from Khalil Herbert over the past two months or so? Yeah when he's

14:17he's a smart guy he's really smart you could tell that in the first week that he got here

14:21you know you weren't having to tell him what to do on a ton of plays and that's rare

14:26and he makes plays when when he gets his opportunity you know he had a big play for us

14:31last week chase went down he came in there and multiple drives and and played well for us so I

14:37have a lot of confidence in him.

14:51you

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