CINCINNATI — It appears Joe Burrow will be the Bengals' starting quarterback this Thursday.
Head coach Zac Taylor said during his weekly press conference that he anticipates Burrow will play against the Ravens on Thanksgiving.
"We'll continue to work through the week ... coming off an injury, he's done everything he could, he put himself in a position to do his best to play yesterday and we'll continue with that mindset," Taylor said. "But he looks like he's in good shape right now to be ready to go."
The Bengals' franchise QB was listed as questionable for Sunday's Patriots game after two days of full participation in practice last week, but in the end, Cincinnati didn't move him off the IR and onto the active roster. Now, he is expected to return on a shortened week where Cincinnati will be down several key players.
While this week's return will reunite Burrow with star receiver Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins will be out after suffering a concussion during Sunday's game. Taylor said Trey Hendrickson and Tahj Brooks are also listed as out for Thursday's game.
After the Bengals' fourth straight loss Sunday, there has been a very real conversation about whether Burrow's return could hurt him more than help the team. If he starts Thursday, he'll come back significantly earlier than his injury typically allows, and the Bengals likely don't want their star player to re-aggravate his injury or hurt something else.
They haven't technically been eliminated from playoff contention, but the odds of making the postseason sit at less than 1%. But this is Burrow we're talking about. He'll likely want to play no matter what the scenario is.
