grant schroeder

[Mo Egger @MoEgger]

The "Joe Burrow late in games when they're trailing thing" (the 1-34 stat you've seen on every relative you hate's Facebook page).

Going through some of the games over the last three years, there's been a very mixed bag late in games.

Aborted comebacks because of bad pass protection & dropped pass. Week 11 2023. v. Houston. First and goal from the Hou seven yard-line, down 27-24. Pass pro collapses on first down. Tyler Boyd drops an absolute dime in the end zone that had it been caught, would've given the Bengals the lead. Bengals settle for FG. Dalton Schultz flips the field for the Texans. They make GW FG.

Burrow near-perfection wasted. 2024 Week three v. WSH. Bengals score a TD on all three second half drives. The only time they don't score is on a drive that ends with a missed FG. Burrow is awesome. But his defense can't stop Jayden Daniel. Like ever. Bengals lose.

Massive Burrow screwup. 2024 week five v. Balt. Throws pick with the Bengals in Ravens territory up three points w/ just over three mins to go. Also, McPherson missed GW FG in OT and his defense later gets destroyed by Derrick Henry. Bengals were up ten in the fourth quarter. Defense couldn't close. Neither could the offense.

Comeback undone by the D and the officials. 2024 week ten v. Baltimore. Burrow-to-Chase ties it w/ about five mins to go in the fourth. Defense lets Lamar march down the field. Ravens take the lead. Bengals respond, go 70 yards in just over a minute. Great drive. Taylor (correctly) elects to go for two. Officials miss two Balt penalties on the two point play. Burrow threw for 424 and had 4 TDs that night. Was awesome.

Money Mac and the D blow it. 2024 Week 11 v. LAC. Burrow leads game-tying TD drive early in the fourth. Next two drives end with McPherson missed field goals. Chargers score in the final minute w/ help of comically bad Cincinnati defense.

Burrow stinks it up, then doesn't. Defense fails anyway. 2024 Week 13 v. Pit. Burrow is bad for much of the game, then he's good enough to put up 38 points. Steelers score 44 against inept Geno Stone & company D. Can't stop Justin Fields on fourth down on game's final meaningful play.

Burrow chokes. 2025 Week 14 v. Buffalo. Pick six to give the Bills the lead. Then another pick on his next attempt on a tipped pass. Had some cool moments in this game, but wilted in crunch time.

A comeback that no one would've cared about anyway. 2025 Week 18 v. Cleveland. Shouldn't have been playing, but did lead team on a go-ahead drive in final minutes in front of a completely uninterested crowd. Defense lets Shedeur Sanders drive the Browns to GW FG position. Their kicker didn't miss.

One moment undoing excellence as everything else fails around him. 2026 Week 3 v. Pit. Burrow is terrific as his teammates on defense and special teams continue to fail. Then he fumbles.

What does all this mean beyond the fact that I have a little too much time on my hands this evening? It means that the Bengals have lost too many games in recent years. And when a team loses too many games, there's rarely only one reason why (although crappy defense has been a frustrating common denominator). You will absolutely find games that were lost in large part because of a Joe Burrow throw, mistake, or decision. Failed drives.

You will also find tons of games the Bengals lost where their quarterback was almost completely non-complicit in his team's demise. Lost causes where Joe Burrow was the best player on the field.

Is Burrow as great of a late-game performer as we'd like? Probably not. Is he a choke artist? By no stretch.

Some will go back farther in time and mention the Super Bowl. I put that game's closing sequence on Aaron Donald more than Joe Burrow and I'd counter that on the road to LA, nearly every Burrow snap was high-leverage given how close the three playoff wins were and how abysmal the pass protection was.

Or the second AFC title game will be mentioned. I still remember how that KC crowd sounded when Burrow took the field w/ the game tied before the Bengals final two drives. Bryan Cook made a really nice play at the end of the first drive. Chris Jones was unblockable at the end of the second. Burrow could've been better, but I didn't walk out of Arrowhead with frozen toes cursing his name.

Also, "clutch" moments aren't just limited to when a team is losing. Burrow was terrific in the 4th quarter and OT of the Denver game that they absolutely had to win Week 17 2024. But they never trailed. Does that make his performance less "clutch?" No.

And FWIW, Week 1 this year, with the entire stadium all but assuming that they'd blow the opener late in the fourth quarter, Burrow throws sealed the game. I'd put those throws in the clutch or high-leverage category.

Even acknowledging that there have been tons of close-game losses that can't really be pinned on shaky QB play, I really can't blame any Bengals fan who dwells a little on how many times the offense has had chances to win games late and failed, and who believes that for a quarterback of Joe Burrow's stature, he should have a slightly better track record when it comes to late-game heroics.

If the team around him is better, the quarterback I watched for most of the afternoon last Sunday is going to have an excellent season, perhaps his best. And if Joe Burrow has the ball in his hands late in a close game on Sunday, I'll still feel good about whether or not he'll do his part.

Congrats if you've made it to the end of this. I'm going to Arizona.

[NOBUNAGA🇯🇵🏯_夏樹蒼依 @japan_nobunaga]

I went to In-N-Out and ordered a cheeseburger. The cashier, a calm young woman named Destiny, asked me a question I did not expect.

"You want that Animal Style?"

I paused.

I did not know what this meant. But a samurai does not admit he does not know. So I answered with weight.

"...Animal Style."

"Cool. So that's mustard-grilled, extra spread, grilled onions, pickles. Yeah?"

I understood now. This was a sacred permission. For one meal, I was being told to put down my manners at the door. To eat the way a beast eats, without shame. I had waited my whole life for someone to give me this order.

"Yes," I said. "I will become the animal."

Destiny did not blink. "...Okay. You want your fries Animal Style too?"

I stopped. Even the potatoes?

"The potatoes also become animals?"

"I mean, they get cheese and sauce and grilled onions, so..."

"Then yes. Let the potatoes abandon their restraint as well."

"...Got it." She was the calmest woman I have ever met. "3x3, 4x4, or just the one?"

I did not know these numbers, but I knew a challenge when I heard one. "How many must I face?"

"It's, like, how many patties you want."

"How many is the most honorable?"

"...Four is a lot."

"Then four. A warrior does not ask for fewer."

She wrote it down without argument. A 4x4, Animal Style, with animal fries. She warned me once, kindly. "That's gonna be huge." I told her I was counting on it.

It arrived. It was a tower. Cheese and sauce ran down my hands the moment I lifted it. There was no clean way to eat it. There was no dignified way. That was the entire point.

I ate it like a beast. Both hands, no honor, grilled onion on my chin, and I have to be honest with you, it was the best thing I have ever put in my mouth.

For thirty years I have kept my manners at every table in the world.

They handed me a burger and told me to be an animal, and I have never felt so free.

So tell me, America.

The whole country knows the secret menu. What else are you hiding in plain sight?

And "Animal Style." Was I eating the animal, or finally becoming one?

[grant schroeder @Schroeder_Grant]

@BearcatJournal Or Texas….

[grant schroeder @Schroeder_Grant]

@CycloneLarry69 Is that the name of the head ref? Not familiar with officiate names

[Ryan Phillips @JournoRyan]

There’s little else like good sportswriting

[grant schroeder @Schroeder_Grant]

@kroger any thoughts on how this beer was sold to me?

[grant schroeder @Schroeder_Grant]

@rhinegeist I cracked open a @CincyLight that I just got from a 24 pack at Kroger in Dayton and it said it was from Jan 2024. Is that a misprint or some weird inventory/shipping error of old product?

[grant schroeder @Schroeder_Grant]

@AllaireMatt Cincinnati. We had to watch a failure of a football team that we care about as well. Dayton was saved from that embarrassment.

[throwbacks @solelynostalgia]

the moment zendaya knew she’d marry tom holland

[Did Joe Biden Die Today? @DidJoeBidenDie]

No

[Awful Announcing @awfulannouncing]

"Congratulations to the Iowa State Cyclones on winning the" what?

[MrBeast @MrBeast]

BEAST GAME EPISODE 3 IS OUT NOW!

To celebrate, I'm giving away $100,000 total to 10 random people who like and retweet this post!

Go watch it here: https://t.co/Yntf9E7FTN

[grant schroeder @Schroeder_Grant]

@AllaireMatt Agreed, Cincy should do more of that

[People's City Council - Los Angeles @PplsCityCouncil]

It’s called jury nullification. Tell your friends.

[skipppppy 🍉//COMMS OPEN!! @skipppppy_art]

Genuinely there was never any competition

[grant schroeder @Schroeder_Grant]

@djbarnett @desmiff Only by watching Bearcats football, do we earn the privilege of watching Bearcats basketball this year

[Amanda Serrano @Serranosisters]

I landed 107 more punches, she got a point deducted and I lost 95-94 lmfao

[grant schroeder @Schroeder_Grant]

@djbarnett Because this loss isn’t on the coach. Sorsby has proven himself as a good QB. Ya he had the literal worse game of his life, but I cant blame the coaching staff for him giving 17 points to WV lol. If people blame the coach, they weren’t reasonable to begin with imo

[Kirk Herbstreit @KirkHerbstreit]

I’m sorry I couldn’t properly lead to this beautiful tribute the @CollegeGameDay put together. Really wanted to thank all of you for the avalanche of love and support you’ve shown Ben. It gives me and my family such comfort knowing how he impacted so many peoples lives around the country. He was a beautiful and loving soul.