While the Bengals enter Week 13 at 4-7, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin had some high praise for Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow during his Tuesday press conference.
Coming off a Week 12 bye, Burrow leads the league with 27 touchdowns and has thrown just four interceptions. He has also thrown more passes than anyone else in the league so far at 408.
“Obviously, you can’t talk about these guys without talking Joe Burrow,” Tomlin said. “If you look at the tape, man, he’s MVP caliber in terms of what he’s doing for them. I started first with the two Baltimore games because of the intimacy of divisional play. Man, I don’t know how many touchdowns he threw in those two football games. I know [Ja’Marr] Chase himself had five. It’s just kind of reflective of what he and they are capable of.
“We’ve got to do a really good job. We’ve got to carry enough defense schematically, but within that, we’d better perform at a high enough level because it’s not just schematics that beats them.”
Tomlin continued that the Steelers need to execute their scheme at a high level while varying pre-snap looks, blitzing, and playing coverage.
“I think that is reflective of a quarterback in his position,” Tomlin said. “I say the same thing when we play guys like Matt Stafford and so forth. Guys that are anticipatory passers, guys that are in complete command of their system of offense, guys that know where all the eligibles are. Oftentimes, that’s illustrated by his ability to throw no-look check-downs and things of that nature.
“He just knows where all his people are. When you’re playing quarterbacks like that, man, you’d better carry enough defense. You might be able to trick them or stay ahead of them for 20 or 30 minutes, but you’d better have enough defense. It’s a 60-minute game. I think that’s reflected in watching them.”
Burrow has completed 67.2 percent of his throws for 3,028 yards with 27 touchdowns and four picks this season. Chase leads the league with 1,056 yards receiving and 12 touchdowns.
