Shannon Sharpe keeps receipts.
In late September, his Joe Burrow slander just about broke Marcus Spears. Naturally, Swagu is going to take up for his fellow LSU Tiger, but he also didn’t feel like his ESPN colleague was being fair to the Cincinnati Bengals quarterback.
At the time, Sharpe said that Burrow played well in the Bengals’ 38-33 loss to the Washington Commanders but not well enough to win. Burrow went 29-of-38 for 324 yards with three touchdowns against zero interceptions.
In fact, in that Week 3 loss on Monday Night Football, Cincinnati never punted or turned the ball over against the Commanders. The only drive the Bengals failed to score on was a missed field goal in the first half. And in the second half, Burrow and Cincinnati’s offense scored three touchdowns on their three drives. Burrow can’t do much more than that.
But Sharpe thought he could, which is why he has since returned to the scene of the crime to take a victory lap. On Tuesday’s First Take, the three-time Super Bowl champion not only lamented Burrow’s struggles but also patted himself back.
“I was told he was playing great,” Sharpe said Tuesday. “They were losing ballgames and everybody was like, ‘Oh, Shannon, you’re out your mind. Look at Joe Burrow’s numbers.’ Now, we’re asking the question: who are we more surprised by struggling? I’m surprised this a question, considering Stephen A., everybody jumped on me about three weeks ago and was telling me how well Joe Burrow was playing.
“Back to our originally scheduled programming…I’m surprised by Joe Burrow for the simple fact of his age and the skill position weapons that he has around him. I’m surprised that they’re 3-5. I’m not surprised at all Aaron Rodgers is struggling. He’s 40 years of age, he’s coming off an Achilles injury and he’s not as mobile as he once was.”
Shannon Sharpe hasn’t forgotten the criticism he received for being critical of Joe Burrow earlier this season.
“I was told he was playing great. They were losing ballgames and everybody was like, ‘Oh, Shannon, you’re out your mind. Look at Joe Burrow’s numbers.'” pic.twitter.com/lYtrKu3H0L
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 29, 2024
Sharpe, on the other hand, he’s still got it.
In a 37-17 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 8, Burrow was 26-of-37 for 234 yards passing with a touchdown and a pick. And despite being tied at 17-all with just over four minutes left in the third quarter of Sunday’s loss, if you were to ask Sharpe, Burrow didn’t play well enough to win — again.
With the Bengals two games under .500 in a wide-open AFC playoff race, we’ll see if the 2019 Heisman Trophy winner plays well enough to win down the stretch.
