Press Conference: Joe Burrow Confident in Bengals’ Roster as Trade Deadline Nears, Preparing for Titans and More

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

What impresses you about Tennessee's defense?

Joe Burrow (0:02)

Their D-line gives you problems. Obviously, we know what they're into. You guys bring, they gotta go to edge rushers.

They can cause some problems, for sure.

SPEAKER_1 (0:12)

You've obviously had a good history, and had a significant history with the D-line for seven years. Zach was talking about, he's one of the premier tackles of football. What stands out to you when you see him across the line?

Joe Burrow (0:23)

He's really big, he's really strong, he's really fast. That's usually a good combination. He's really tough, seems to love what he does, and you put all those things together, you get Jeff Simmons.

SPEAKER_3 (0:36)

This is a two-part question. I don't know if you saw yesterday, but there was quite a few moves made around the trades with different NFL teams.

Prior to the trade for Dexter Lawrence that the Bengals made, they hadn't been a team that had previously made a lot of trades. Obviously, it's from Flacco, but that wasn't because you were hurt, but that's not something this franchise had traditionally done. How happy were you to see the franchise make a change from not doing something that they've always done to knowing this was a window that they were trying to capitalize with Dexter?

Joe Burrow (1:11)

Yeah, I think it was a unique situation. I don't think there's very often that a player like Dex becomes available, and then for one first-round pick, two, and a high-kneed addition for us. I think all those things together kind of created the perfect storm of a situation for us to involve ourselves. And yeah, obviously, it's worked out great for us, and we couldn't be happier with it.

SPEAKER_3 (1:39)

And then just to follow up on that, given where you guys are at as a team, four and two, a great position to make a run here, how do you feel about the team, and what do you make of all of these conversations that happen externally about capitalizing on a window, if that means acquiring a player at a position that you might need?

Joe Burrow (1:59)

Yeah, I'm sure, number one, I feel really good about our team and the guys we have in there.

Number two, I think every jam in football is probably exploring all options at this point, and very few ever end up materializing, but that's something that I think all those guys think about critically, and whether it ends up happening or not, who knows? But I feel really good about the team we have in there.

SPEAKER_1 (2:33)

What did it mean to you to hear Ja'Marr at half time on Sunday, to do what he did, step up and say, everybody's got to step up?

Joe Burrow (2:42)

Yeah, I think Ja'Marr is captain for a reason, and he walks the walk. He doesn't talk often, but when he does, obviously, you guys listen. I think that was a perfect moment for it.

Obviously, when Ja'Marr speaks, it has a lot of impact, and that one certainly did.

SPEAKER_4 (3:06)

Can you put your finger on why the first half was so different from the second half after filming the other half?

Joe Burrow (3:13)

I mean, there's a lot of different things that went into it. They presented some challenging looks. They, but at the end of the day, it was, you know, we didn't stay on the field on third down, and they did, and then that flipped in the second half.

SPEAKER_5 (3:28)

Tee's a guy that could easily reflect here that a guy knows how much he would've had as a number one receiver. And yet he comes back, and, you know, kind of takes a special guy in, doesn't have to kind of not go and do what he could've done.

Joe Burrow (3:46)

Yeah, Tee's a special person, special player. You know, he's going and improving everything that we knew he was right now.

And we're gonna keep feeding him, and obviously still trying to get Ja'Marr the ball, but the way the Tee's playing right now, it's hard not to throw his way.

SPEAKER_6 (4:07)

On your list of still building career resume, where does winning an MVP fall on that list?

Joe Burrow (4:14)

Somewhere.

SPEAKER_6 (4:16)

Someone who's done this job and played this position for as long as you have, what do you think are the top criteria for winning that award?

Joe Burrow (4:23)

Number one, you have to be on a great team.

Almost never does a bad team have an MVP at the end of the day. It's usually the best player with the most stats on the best team. So best team is number one on that criteria list.