Bengals’ Joe Burrow as ‘Dark Knight?’ Chase Brown reacts to QB’s return from injury
Chase Brown hears the Batman jokes. He kind of loves them. “Everybody’s making it seem like it’s gonna be like this big like Dark Knight Rises return or something like that,” the Cincinnati Bengals running back said of Joe Burrow coming back from turf toe surgery.
“It could be. I’m just excited for him to get football back. He loves football, and taking that away from him, for however long, it’s probably been hard.” Brown said via John Acree of the Cincy Jungle.
Joe Burrow was given roughly a three-month timetable after surgery on Sept. 14. He is beating it by about two weeks to start on Thanksgiving night against the Baltimore Ravens, with the Bengals sitting at 3-8 after going 1-8 without him.
Cincinnati’s season is hanging by a thread, but Burrow’s mindset hasn’t changed. “I’m a football player,” he said this week. “If I get hurt, I’m going to go through the rehab process, and then I’m going to let everyone know when I feel like I can go out there and play… I’m not going to live my life and play this game scared of something happening.”
The Bengals are not exactly dragging him back to a broken offense. In six starts with Joe Flacco, Cincinnati has averaged 27.2 points per game, as Flacco has thrown for 1,636 yards with 13 touchdowns and four interceptions via ESPN.
The real plot twist is the ground game. Chase Brown is on a five-game streak of 100-plus scrimmage yards and can set a franchise record with a sixth against Baltimore. He just stacked 130 total yards on the New England Patriots in Week 12, including 19 carries for 107 yards in a 26-20 loss, as the Bengals ran for 120 yards and averaged 5.2 per carry.
So now Joe Burrow walks back into an offense that can lean on a hot back and a more physical line instead of asking him to throw 45 times on a bad foot against a Ravens defense that lives to hit quarterbacks.
Ex-Saints playmaker lands exactly where everyone thought he would
The release of Brandin Cooks hit a snag when the New Orleans Saints attempted to revise his contract in a way that would make teams less likely to claim him on waivers. That's against NFL rules, so the Saints had to revise it again. Even with new changes, Cooks cleared waivers and landed with the Buffalo Bills.
The decision to release Cooks felt sudden and overdue at the same time. He never fit the Saints timeline, but they didn't move him at the trade deadline. That felt like the end of the story until Cooks requested his release a week later.
The Saints obliged, and Cooks got his wish. It left a thin position group even thinner, but Cooks clearly felt it was time to go. Looking at how infrequently he was used, it's hard to fight that opinion.
Brandin Cooks chose the most predictable landing spot after the Saints released him
Cooks is 32 years old. He belongs with a championship contender, not a team in the NFL basement. That's the exact change Cooks got with his change of scenery. The Saints will be in contention for the first overall pick. The Bills have championships on the mind.
Buffalo has had its own concerns and shortcomings this year, but they also have Josh Allen. So while the Bills have been shaky at points, you never want to count them out in the AFC race. That's the type of team Cooks should have been on all along.
To be more specific, the Bills always felt like the most likely landing spot for the wide receiver from the moment his release was reported. Ironically, Cooks is the second Saints wide receiver the Bills have been connected to this season. Chris Olave was paired with the Bills. Olave would have been a bigger grab, but the reason for the connection is the same reason Cooks felt like a shoe in to be a Bill.
The Bills need speed, and that's been Cooks' specialty. He won't come in as the top dog in the receiving corps, but Cooks will fill a specific role for them. They, similarly, fill a role for Cooks as a championship contender.
