Joe Burrow refuses to put the blame for the Week 1 loss on anyone but himself

The Bengals had their struggles and bad breaks on Sunday, but rookie quarterback Joe Burrow isn’t about the buck on his first loss since 2018.

Like a true leader and competitor, Burrow puts this loss on himself and his performance.

Many in Cincinnati may blame kicker Randy Bullock for the Bengals’ 0-1 start, but his quarterback doesn’t.

“It doesn’t matter what happened on the kick. We should have put them away a lot of times before that. I should have, you know, like I said, made the throw to A.J. and not thrown the interception.”

When asked about the offensive pass interference call that negated his game-winning touchdown pass, Burrow refused to criticize the officiating and once again put the blame on himself.

“At the end of the day, you know, I made too many mistakes to win the game and we just didn’t make enough plays.”

He continued...

“I missed A.J. (Green) on a deep ball. I missed John (Ross) on a deep ball and threw the interception, that just can’t happen.”

When talking specifically about those missed opportunities he doubled down, once again putting it on himself.

He was asked why John Ross didn’t make a play on what appeared to many to be a good ball.

“...the way I see it, I overthrew him. I gotta put it on his chest. You know we’ll watch the film and see what happened, but I just gotta make a better throw.”

Burrow was also asked why they called a timeout right before the A.J. Green target mentioned above. The Bengals had no timeouts left at the end of the game and certainly would have been in a better position if they had one.

Still, Burrow thought this timeout call by Zac Taylor put them in position to win the game.

“It was just a bad look for the play that we were in. So we got to empty and you know, he (Zac Taylor) made a great call and I just gotta finish that play. If I finish that play we win the game. It’s pretty simple.”

So Burrow won’t blame the officials. He won’t blame his receivers, coaches, or kicker.

What about a pandemic?

This was an unprecedented offseason. He is the only rookie quarterback who started Week 1 and he did not have the benefit of preseason games. Was that why he struggled and the team lost?

“Nah, I don’t think so. You know that’s kind of what I’m used to. You know (in) college there’s no preseason, you just have scrimmages so I don’t really know what a preseason looks like.”

When asked how he felt about his performance, he gave himself a “D.”

He knows he did not play to his potential and is holding himself accountable for his performance.

Burrow shows some great traits on the field, but he is also demonstrating the right attitude in interviews. He holds himself to a high standard and when he knows he could have won the game, he will not accept excuses.

This is exactly the attitude he needs to develop into the franchise quarterback we are all hoping he will be.