As the Bengals and Vikings gathered around the ball for a key fourth and short in overtime at the Cincinnati 48, quarterback Joe Burrow saw an opportunity. And he acted on it.
He went to his helmet; he appeared to be changing of the play. Speaking to him by phone after the game, I told him that I said at that moment, “He’s changing it to a pass.”
“Sounds like you were right,” Burrow said, laughing.
So why did he make the change?
“They had a lot of people between the A gaps,” Burrow said. “We didn’t like the play we had called in that situation and we knew we were going to call that play if we didn’t get the look that we liked. It’s been a good play for us the last two years. It didn’t work out exactly the way we thought it would. I don’t think I’ve ever thrown to C.J. [Uzomah] on that route before but we got it done.”
Burrow said that Uzomah was the third read on the play.
“They did a great job of covering the first two and we actually threw it to C.J. in practice this week for the first time in two years. I’m glad that we got that rep because I don’t know if he would’ve been ready for it if we didn’t.”
Uzomah was so open that Burrow was mildly concerned he’d miss the throw.
“That was going through my mind,” Burrow said.
What’s going through his mind now is that he’s back from his injury, and the Bengals are 1-0.