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Joe Burrow has reached yet another milestone in just his third NFL start.
Last week, the No. 1 overall pick by way of LSU completed 37 passes against the Browns, the most by a rookie quarterback in NFL history.
This week against the Eagles, Burrow came close to matching that with 31 more completions on 44 pass attempts. That gave him 91 completions for the season, which is the most in NFL history by a quarterback in his first three games.
.@Bengals QB Joe Burrow's (@JoeyB) 91 completions are the most by a player through his first three career games in @NFL history. pic.twitter.com/3LCdL172Nd
— NFL345 (@NFL345) September 27, 2020
Week 3 was easily Burrow’s best performance as a pro thus far, as he finished with 312 passing yards, a 70.5 completion percentage, and threw for two scores, both to second-round rookie receiver Tee Higgins. All of this was good for a 105.5 passer rating,
Unfortunately, it was not enough for the Bengals to get a win, as they ultimately finished in a 23-all tie with the Eagles. Burrow’s big game did help the Bengals take a 23-16 lead into the final minute of regulation before the defense blew the lead.
And while it’s nice to know Burrow is having a promising start, the Bengals can’t keep allowing him to drop back 50+ per game behind this offense line, which allowed eight sacks and 18(!) QB hits to an Eagles defense that struggled to pressure passers in their first two games (they had 1 sack and 2 QB hits last week vs. the Rams).
Here’s to hoping the Bengals find a way to keep Burrow’s hot play up while protecting him better going forward. He’s not going to last an entire season getting hit 15+ times a game.