Joe Burrow on Cincinnati Bengals Week 5 Win over Miami Dolphins

You know, our receivers did a good job of finding space. We didn't get a ton of man coverage, but when we did, you know, we made them pay. They made a good play there on the last third down. You know, we had good field position most of the day. And, you know, I think for the most part, we took advantage of it. But, you know, we had some dumb mistakes. And, you know, we got to get those fixed if we want to be a great team. Seems like the guys that you did the damage with on third down, Samaje, Tanner, Kisecki, I mean, these are not, everybody's worried about Jamar. It seemed like you're, you know, the complementary guys. Yeah, Tanner made an unbelievable play on third down. He made a great play in the red zone. You know, Dante won against man coverage on third down. You know, Mike's going to be Mike, obviously. I don't know how many touchdowns he has, but it feels like every time he catches it, it's a touchdown. And, you know, Samaje made a big-time play down there as well. So, you know, a lot to get better at, but a lot of good as well. Joe, can you take us through the Jamar touchdown and stepping out of the pocket and describing that? Yeah, that's a protection I really like. It buys me time and space to push the ball down the field. When you can push the ball down the field with the guys that we have and we can buy that kind of time, you see what number one can do whenever the ball's in the air. Obviously, unbelievable play. We don't want to take it for granted, but we're used to it at this point. What about Jamar and T playing through what they've played through? Yeah, that's football, man. That's football. When you have great players that want to be great and want to be there for the team, that's what it's all about. It looked like you took a pretty hard hit when you were trying to fall on the ball after the chase-crab fumble. How are you feeling at this point? You seem okay to talk to you during the time. Yeah, I feel great. I feel great. That's football. Was he a fun? I'm all good. It seemed like Samaje had an increase in involvement today. Can you just talk about the dynamic he brings to your guys' offense? Yeah, I mean, he's just Mr. Reliable, and he has been my entire time here since he's been on our team. You can count on him to fall forward and give us an extra two. You can count on him to win against the linebacker in coverage. He's such a valuable piece for us. you know, certainly doesn't get enough credit for it. Why is he such a good fit for the types of lines you'll call today? Why is he such a good fit for that? Yeah, downhill, downhill. And, you know, we count on him a lot in protection, too, on third down to go not just block linebackers, sometimes defensive linemen as well. And, you know, I feel really confident that if I get it to him in space on third down, he's going to go make it happen for us. He's just such a valuable piece for us. In all five games in the season, how would you assess how you feel about this team? It's got to be better. It's got to be better. In what ways? Every way. Zach talked about closing out games. What specifically can you guys do to actually feel a little more comfortable? Obviously, you'd like to score a touchdown there when you get it at the 10-yard line to close it out. We let them back in it and made it a really came down to an onside kick. You don't want to be in that spot. So that's not a spot that, you know, you should give one up, but you never know what happens in that spot, you know? You obviously want this team to be better. How much confidence do you have after five games that it'll reach your goal and we'll be better? Yeah, we'll be better. We'll be better. You talked about balance on Wednesday. I know it wasn't 50-50 today, but was this pretty close to an ideal balance? Yeah, I haven't seen, you know, the stats or the play breakdowns, but it certainly felt like, you know, when we ran it, we were getting four, five, six yards, putting us in third and manageable, and, you know, a lot of times converting on that second down. So, on first glance, I think so. What will it take to kind of clean up some of the errors and kind of the things you do better? What's it going to take to kind of get y'all to where you want this to look like by the end of the year? Yeah, we've got to be smarter. We've got to be smarter. You know, two fumbles in the red zone, a couple personal fouls that, you know, hurt us, hurt our field position, gave them points on the board. Yeah, we've got to be smarter. You started down with a touchdown pass to Secchi and Samajit. It seemed like you liked the coverage match up there. Yeah, that's, you know, the first play was a great, the first touchdown was a great call. You know, Riscotti works really hard on those red zone plans and that was one draw for that coverage, so that was a great beater. Yeah, the second one, Samajit just went in one on a choice route. And the way that they were playing, that was really the look that we wanted. How hot was it? I don't know. I'm sure you can check the weather report, man. Is that as hot as you can? Yeah, I mean, it was hot out there. But once, you know, you're in the helmet, so it doesn't, when your helmet's on, it's not too bad. And, you know, we had the shaders and the misters and everything. So, you know, they take care of us out there. What's a bye week, though, like for you? Yeah, we'll see. I don't know. I don't know. It's so early, you know, I want to maintain my conditioning, my strength and conditioning, and, you know, certainly I want to keep throwing. So I'm going to try to find a plan. This is uncharted territory for me having a bye this early, so we'll see.