Joe Burrow’s wrist injury is full of conspiracies with one simple truth

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Burrow’s wrist has sparked a lot of conversation, but there’s something simple here.

Joe Burrow’s wrist injury is a very big deal. We don’t yet know its severity, but if Burrow is forced to miss any time it will effectively end the Bengals season. Now at 5-5, there’s no margin for error — especially with a fairly difficult seven games remaining on the schedule, many of which are against AFC North opponents.

Aside from Bengals fans, there was significant angst on Thursday night when Burrow was forced to leave the game. Every NFL game has numerous stakeholders, which is by design to make every date on the schedule feel like a significant event, and boost viewership by result. This is the league’s impetus by boosting fantasy football and sports betting. They want every game to be important to football fans, not just the ones involving their teams — with fantasy and gambling servicing that goal.

The key issue stems from whether or not the Bengals knew that Burrow was nursing an injury entering Thursday Night Football. There’s been speculation whether or not the quarterback was wearing a brace on his wrist upon arriving at the stadium, which could have indicated that the Bengals were aware of an injury.

There’s also a chance people are wildly misconstruing the “brace,” which could be a two-finger artist’s glove — though the Bengals didn’t do the theory any favors by deleting video of the team arriving in Baltimore by bus.

The nature of a possible Burrow injury is really complicated, so let’s break this all down.

Yes, if Joe Burrow was hurt the Bengals had to report — even if he practiced

The current NFL injury report protocol has been unchanged since 2017 and is very clear that if there is a chance a player could either miss part of a game, or have their performance hampered by even the most minor injury, it has to appear on the practice report.

“As one example, assume a club’s quarterback suffers an injury to a finger of his right (throwing) hand during the club’s first game of the season. After treatment, he is able to finish the game despite his injury. Given the injury’s effect upon the player’s performance, and the fact that he is a key player, the injury must be listed on the club’s Practice Report each day of the following week, even if the player takes all the reps in practice, and even if the club is certain that he will play in the club’s next game. In such a case, the player should be listed as “Full Participation (right finger)” in the Practice Report, but would not be listed in the club’s Game Status Report for Week 2 because the player is certain to play in the club’s upcoming game.”

This is a very similar situation to what Burrow faced. If the wrist injury was a prior issue the team knew about, and even if he was certain to play, he had to be put on the practice report — which differs from the “game status report” which must be submitted prior to kickoff.

The Bengals’ practice report leading up to Thursday Night Football did not feature Burrow on it at all.

The league isn’t hiding the reason for requiring injuries to be reported like this. They want fans who have external stakes in NFL games to be informed on the status of players, particularly ones who could impact the outcome of a game.

The truth is though, much of the NFL still ignores this policy

There’s a weird balance when it comes to the weekly practice report. In theory it’s a way to accurately inform fans and allow for opponents to make informed decisions on scheming, but teams have routinely looked for ways to bend injury reporting to its breaking point.

An inherent edge is gained as soon as teams need to scheme for multiple players at a position, particularly quarterback, rather than just having to focus on the starter. The same can be said for being aware if a player won’t take the field. It’s not like there’s a magic solution to being without a player like Joe Burrow, but his presence on the report can alter a team’s defensive preparation in the week leading up to the game.

That said, it’s Week 11 in the NFL. Everyone is playing hurt. There isn’t a single player who’s taken significant reps who feels 100 percent fine right now. Talk to a professional football player and they’ll delineate between playing injured, and playing hurt. If teams had to list every tight muscle, sort knee, bruised shoulder, and minor annoyance that doesn’t impact who starts a game then the practice report list would be 40 players long — with no clear indication what is actually serious and what isn’t.

The injury reporting system needs a rework, regardless of what happened with Joe Burrow on Thursday night

The NFL is investigating whether Burrow was left off the practice report list when he should have been on it. The outcome of that investigation remains to be seen, but whether or not there was a breach, there has to be a better way to handle injuries.

Teams need to have the freedom not to disclose every small issue that crops up with a player, lest we water down injury reporting as being totally pointless. At the same time, because the league has embraces fantasy football and gambling the way it has, they need to bring accountability to the process in instances where a report omission or exaggeration hurts fantasy and sports betting.

It’s a complicated process which will surely be revisited in the owner’s meetings after the season, but cold comfort to fans who feel cheated on Thursday night if Burrow took the field with an injury that ultimately took him out of the game.