Joe Burrow brushes off injury concerns returning for 3-8 Bengals ahead of Thanksgiving showdown with Ravens

Cincinnati Bengals backmost Joe Burrow volition marque his long-awaited instrumentality to the shot tract connected Thursday nighttime successful an AFC North matchup against the Baltimore Ravens connected Thanksgiving Day. 

The Bengals beryllium astatine the bottommost of the part alongside the 3-8 Cleveland Browns, but the team’s existent lasting was ne'er a origin successful Burrow’s determination to return, which came astir a period earlier than expected. 

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"I’m a shot player. I get paid a batch of wealth to spell and play a crippled with my friends and we enactment truly hard," Burrow said to reporters Tuesday. "It’s aggravated and there’s jobs connected the line, but astatine the extremity of the day, it’s a crippled and I’ve worked hard to enactment myself successful this presumption and get arsenic steadfast arsenic I tin beryllium to spell retired and play with these guys and that’s thing I wanted to do." 

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Burrow was pressed further astir the determination to instrumentality to play, and asked if his presumption arsenic the team’s "franchise" subordinate meant that helium should beryllium much cautious astir his instrumentality with the adjacent play successful mind.

But for Burrow, his wounded and rehab are conscionable the quality of the sport. 

"I’m a shot subordinate and if I get wounded I’m going to spell done the rehab process and past I’m going to fto everybody cognize erstwhile I consciousness similar I tin spell retired determination and play. I don’t truly cognize what other to accidental astir that. I’m not going to ever spell to idiosyncratic and say, ‘Yeah, I’m steadfast but I don’t deliberation I should spell retired determination and play.’ That doesn’t marque a batch of consciousness to me. 

Bengals backmost Joe Burrow incapable to enactment value connected his ankle aft getting injured against the Jaguars. (IMAGN)

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"I’m not going to unrecorded my beingness and play this crippled frightened of thing happening. Like yeah, something’s going to hap – it’s football. Guys are going to get hurt, guys are going to get concussions, you’re going to interruption bones, teardrop ligaments – it’s a physical, aggravated crippled that’s portion of this. And, yeah, I’ve had injuries there’s not a batch I tin bash astir that."

Burrow suffered turf toed during the Bengals’ Week 2 matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Jake Browning took implicit arsenic starter, but aft 3 consecutive losses, the Bengals traded for seasoned signal-caller Joe Flacco.

With him nether center, Cincinnati has gone 1-5, including 4 consecutive losses. 

Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals looks to walk during the crippled against the Jacksonville Jaguars astatine Paycor Stadium connected Sept. 14, 2025, successful Cincinnati, Ohio. (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

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Burrow volition look to beryllium himself connected Thanksgiving nighttime against the Ravens, who person won 5 consecutive contempt an disfigured commencement to the season.

"It’s a part rivalry. You got respect for them. It’s aggravated retired there. I wanted to beryllium retired determination for playing connected Thanksgiving. It’s thing I’ve ever wanted to do, that I pushed for successful the past, and the NFL gave it to us. Then, you know, the wounded happened, and thought I wasn’t gonna beryllium capable to play. And past arsenic we got closer, I felt similar it was a existent possibility. So that’s breathtaking to me. It’s a nationalist signifier to spell retired and beryllium yourself again aft not playing for respective weeks," Burrow added. 

The Ravens big the Bengals astatine 8:20 p.m. ET.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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