Time seemingly stopped as the No. 1 overall pick clutched his left knee in pain on Sunday.
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow was carted off the field with a left knee injury in the third quarter of Sunday's 20-9 loss to Washington. Burrow was immediately ruled out by the team.
The initial diagnosis on Burrow's injury is a torn ACL but there could be additional damage, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reports, per a source. An MRI awaits to confirm the full extent of the injury.
The injury came with the pocket collapsing on the rookie QB as he was looking downfield. A group of bodies crashed into his legs just after Burrow got rid of the ball. CBS elected not to show a replay on the broadcast.
Players on both teams knelt as Burrow made his exit through the tunnel and an afflicted tone set in once play resumed. A game was completed -- one where Washington scored 13 unanswered points to pull away with the win -- but that's not what was on everyone's mind as Burrow himself indicated his season was over.
Bengals coach Zac Taylor had no definitive answers on Burrow's injury during his postgame press conference, but was asked about the offensive line, which had been shuffled around throughout the year and a point of criticism as it hoped to protect a franchise QB.
"All we can do is make progress as the season goes, and we gave up a lot of pressure early in the season," Taylor said. "In these last couple weeks, our guys have done a great job of keeping people off Joe. He's had a great pocket and did not have a sack in the first half. The hit, as I saw it, wasn't when he had the ball in his hand. So, people keep talking about the offensive line without seemingly watching the film from the last four weeks. Those guys have done a good job -- it's been a revolving door for players -- but they've been doing a great job. We feel like we made a lot of progress over the last five weeks and we're not going to apologize for any of it."
The Bengals were leading Washington 9-7 at the time of Burrow's injury, but a deflated team couldn't muster a fight in the second half. Ryan Finley stepped in at QB for the Bengals and was promptly sacked four times and picked off once.
Burrow was enjoying a game in which he completed 21 passes in the first half, which is the most this season by any QB in a first half. Burrow's day ended going 22-of-34 for 203 yards and one touchdown in what was his 10th career start.
Taylor ended the presser asked to relive his experience with Burrow so far and offered what his message will be for his team going forward.
"He handled everything like a professional from Day 1," Taylor said of Burrow. "To be voted a captain just speaks everything you need to know about the guy. The players have responded to him, the coaches have responded to him, the city has responded to him and all that is equally as important. He energizes this team and he's been a tremendous player -- everything we hoped he'd be. We will get him back at some point. We don't know when that is, but, for now, we have to transport that energy and put somewhere else on this team.
"The objective is to go win. And that's been the objective since day one regardless of who's playing on the field for you. We have to do more to win more football games. We have not won enough. I love going to battle with these guys, I really do."
