Joe Burrow on Break-In at His House, Tee Higgins' Future With Bengals and MORE

Cincinnati Bengals On SI

Transcript

00:00I'll start it out by saying something before any questions today.

00:04So obviously, everybody has heard what has happened.

00:09I feel like my privacy has been violated in more ways than one.

00:14And way more is already out there than I would want out there and

00:18that I care to share, so that's all I got to say about that.

00:22Out of all of that, without getting into it, is that probably the most frustrating

00:26thing, is that just how much is out there, not even just about the incident,

00:29it's the amount of just information that has now been revealed?

00:32Is that probably the most frustrating thing about all that?

00:34It's part of it.

00:35It's, yeah, we live a public life and

00:40one of my least favorite parts of that is the lack of privacy.

00:47And that has been difficult for me to deal with my entire career.

00:52Still learning, but I understand it's the life

00:58that we choose doesn't make it any easier to deal with.

01:01How do you feel like that might impact you in a way?

01:04Do you feel like that will?

01:05And how you deal with it before?

01:07Yeah, we'll see.

01:09I know you don't wanna talk about it, but from a safety standpoint,

01:12how do you feel about your safety and knowing that this hasn't just happened to

01:15you now, this is now a thing with professional athletes feeling targeted?

01:19Do you feel like you need to up your security?

01:21How do you feel in terms of your safety?

01:23I've said everything I wanna say about it.

01:25Can I ask you something about Callahan?

01:28Yes, please.

01:30Brian Callahan, you signed a, I think he told you this,

01:34you signed a picture of him, of you and Jemma, and he said he doesn't have

01:39a display yet, but he says you guys are going to the Hall of Fame.

01:43And what were you thinking when you signed that for him?

01:47What did he ask you to sign that?

01:49I think he was probably right, but Callie's played a huge role

01:54in my success throughout my career so far.

01:58And so I owe Callie a lot, and he's helped me improve my game and

02:05how I approach the game and how I think about football.

02:08The whole time he was here, so I'm very grateful for him.

02:12He says he would vote for you to be MVP.

02:14He says he would vote for you to be MVP if he had a vote.

02:17I guess we'll, I think we got some more games before I have any comment on that,

02:25I would say.

02:29Dan Pitcher, obviously he was kind of understudied in Cal Man.

02:34In Cal Man, do you see any of that rub off with him at all,

02:38with stuff he might have got from Callie and kind of passed on to Pitch?

02:43I think just the way that our offensive coaches approach coaching in general,

02:51they all kind of have a similar philosophy.

02:54And that philosophy really, really fits well with how I play the game,

02:58how I see the game.

03:00And when I came into the league, it was a match made in heaven immediately.

03:07I could tell that I was gonna have a great relationship with every single coach that

03:10we had, and Callie played a big role in that, as well as Pitch did.

03:13And I think as we grew together, then coaching styles continued to adapt.

03:20How I saw it continued to adapt, and how I played continued to adapt, and

03:25it all kind of grew together.

03:26You just talked about Pitch, but a couple games after the season,

03:30his name probably, because of how well you guys have played on offense,

03:34get named as someone to watch in the head coaching circuit.

03:38Do you see those traits in him,

03:40as him being able to be a successful head coach in the NFL?

03:42I do, he's really good in front of the team.

03:45That's the biggest thing that us as players look for

03:50when people ask you that kind of question.

03:53All coaches, I feel like, have scheme that they can go and

03:57attack opposing defenses and offenses.

04:00But what presence do you have in front of the team?

04:04What's your message?

04:05And I think Pitch always has very well thought out messages, and

04:09his presence in front of the team is high level.

04:11So when he gets his chance, I think he'll be ready for it, and he'll do a great job.

04:17They obviously have a lot of new faces, some familiar faces over there.

04:20But the ones that you're used to seeing as a defensive front,

04:25how challenging is it any time you have to go to the game?

04:27Yeah, you know you're gonna be sore after the game.

04:30Those guys play really hard.

04:32They're tough, physical, athletic.

04:37They're gonna get home.

04:38You gotta play the game the right way against these kinds of teams and

04:44get the ball out quickly, extend when you can.

04:47They're gonna win some rushes pretty quick sometimes.

04:49And in those instances, how quickly can you get out and make a play?

04:53Does it feel like you've been there for a year now?

04:55Yeah, I think we pretty much have.

04:57What do you remember from last year?

04:59Obviously, I think of the way it went.

05:00Yeah, last year wasn't great.

05:02Those first, that first third of the season when my calf wasn't feeling great.

05:07That was, it's tough to play against those kind of teams if you can't move around.

05:12That's kind of been historically against the Titans.

05:18I feel like I've made a lot of plays with my legs because of how good they've

05:24been up front, and I'm anticipating having to do that again.

05:28How's the knee?

05:29It's getting better, getting better.

05:30We'll be ready to go.

05:31Is it a pain thing or is it a mobility thing?

05:34It's all good.

05:35Do you think you'll be able to go tomorrow practice?

05:40We'll see how it feels in the morning.

05:41Do you think that matters if you go tomorrow?

05:43I don't think so.

05:44How do you go about compartmentalizing things off the field and

05:49things on the field and staying focused at this,

05:51especially in a juncture of the season like this?

05:54It's definitely been difficult this week, but for

05:57the most part, I'm pretty good at it.

06:00Considering during the season, I don't really have a personal life.

06:04It's kind of all football, and obviously things come up that you don't expect.

06:09And when those come up, you try to do your best to handle them quickly and

06:16be able to move on from it and focus on ball.

06:19Is that by design?

06:20Was your career what you were growing up, or what else?

06:23Do you want to kind of section out those parts of your life accordingly by the season?

06:31I would say when I got in the NFL, it became that way.

06:35When you really want to sit down and focus on what you need to focus on.

06:39Does that make everything that's happened, does that make the prep for

06:41Sunday more challenging?

06:43How is that kind of effect how you prepare for it?

06:46No, I mean, the short week is the biggest challenge for that.

06:49The Monday night games are my least favorite for the following week,

06:55especially road ones.

06:56You get back late, you lose a bunch of sleep.

06:58So then you sleep in late on Tuesday, and

06:59now you already have a late start for game planning for the week.

07:02So that's always challenging.

07:04I think the numbers would say at these last six weeks or so, offensively,

07:09when you guys roll the ball out, you get 27 points.

07:12What is the difference this year, these last six weeks,

07:16that have maybe put it over the top?

07:18What are one or two elements that you think in your mind are taking it to the next level?

07:23I think Chase Brown has played a big role.

07:25Whenever he gets the ball in his hand, he makes somebody miss,

07:29creates an explosive play.

07:32He's been unbelievable.

07:34Obviously, having Jamar and T out there at the same time makes things so

07:40much easier for me, for the running game, for each other.

07:47And it just opens up a whole different box of worms for

07:51opposing defenses to deal with.

07:54And our tight ends are playing really well, too.

07:57I just think everybody that has had opportunities to make plays continues to

08:01make them.

08:02Going back to the other night,

08:03when did you find out that you, Jamar, and T were gonna be captains?

08:08Somebody, Zach usually sends a text out.

08:13I don't check my phone when I get to the stadium, so

08:14if somebody, I think Jamar told me, I can't remember, somebody told me.

08:18Right before the game.

08:19Yeah.

08:19When's the first time you've checked your phone, after the game, most of them?

08:22Yeah.

08:25What, to feel the dose of winning success,

08:29after the stretch that you all had had, the three straight losses,

08:31the five week in there.

08:33Is that something, just feeling that bit of success that you can build on

08:38moving forward for yourself?

08:40Yeah, I mean, it's good to get a win.

08:44No one win is gonna solve anything at this point.

08:49There's not a win out there that can

08:54affect a lot of different things right now.

09:02So we're just focused on going out and trying to play well,

09:06try to find a win on Sunday, and continue to try to get better.

09:10I know you're focused on Sunday and the final couple of weeks, but

09:15whether it's small picture or big picture,

09:16how important is TJ against this offense and this organization?

09:20He's very important.

09:20I think you just look at, it's not even just his production, it's his presence.

09:28It's how he comes to work every day.

09:31It's how the defenses have to play us when he's out there.

09:39He plays such a big part in what we do here and has for

09:43five years now that I don't think you can quite put a value on that, I would say.

09:51Behind the scenes, are you seeing what you need to be seeing from Jermaine Burton for

09:54him to potentially take on a bigger role?

09:57I mean, obviously not this year with TJ and tomorrow obviously being healthy, but

10:01if you see him showing you what you need in the hours in the meeting room?

10:06Absolutely, he's been great really ever since the time he was late.

10:13He's been engaged, high energy, practices hard.

10:19His demeanor on the sideline on game days is fun to be around.

10:24I think he's taken a step in that department.

10:26Going back to T, if the front office isn't able to make that work,

10:31would you be disappointed in him, would that change your-

10:34I'd be very disappointed in that, yeah.

10:35How do you balance all the needs that you all might have with

10:40making sure that the offense is where it needs to be?

10:43How do you feel like is the best way to go about that?

10:45Say that again?

10:46I guess how do you feel probably the best way to ask this is how well would you,

10:51how do you balance basically what y'all might need on some other areas or

10:54other parts of the team?

10:56And also try to maintain kind of the core that y'all have that you want on the team

10:59with you knowing kind of how all of that needs to come together?

11:02Yeah, well, we'll see after the season and talk, have those discussions about

11:07what we feel needs to happen and things everybody has to do to do what we want.

11:12Keep the guys around that we need and

11:14bring in the guys that we, to fill some holes that we need.

11:17So those discussions will be had at the end of the year.

11:21It's fair to say that T is a need?

11:23T is a need, yes.

11:25Going back to defensive, you had Dallas Cowboys last week and

11:30how they attacked you.

11:32Is Tennessee different or it might have been an advantage to play Dallas and

11:38both of these teams are similar defensively?

11:41Yeah, they're, I think Dallas was, they're an aggressive style defense.

11:47Coach Zimmer is a guy that's gonna throw a lot of different looks at you,

11:50protection wise, coverage wise.

11:53And that's always challenging for a quarterback mentally.

12:00This style of defense is a little different.

12:03They're not quite as aggressive, but they play their structure really sound.

12:08And their defensive front is very disruptive.

12:11So it'll be a different challenge this week.

12:14I feel like you've improved one thing, how really dominant is your pass record.

12:18Do you feel like your game is coming down here to account for

12:20guys with that kind of style?

12:22Yeah, I think this year I'm making plays at a much higher rate than I ever have

12:26before outside the structure.

12:29I think protection wise, we've helped with that,

12:33adding some new protections to our scheme and allowing me space and

12:39time to make some moves and get out of the pocket.

12:42I think that's the biggest part.

12:44What stands out most about your four years with Tyler Boyd?

12:48He was just so reliable at every juncture.

12:52It felt like if we needed to play in a big moment, then you could turn to TV and

12:58he would make a play for you.

13:00He would always be in the right spot at the right time.

13:03And coming into the league, as a young player, you need that reliability and

13:10that consistency out of that position.

13:13And he helped me grow as a player more than he knows.

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