The Athletic Football Show on Joe Burrow

PodcastWeek 4 Preview: The Raiders are in our Game of the Week!October 2, 2026

From the episode

Joe Burrow where it's very obvious he's good at certain things and he's just not good or comfortable at other things, which is the getting under center, throwing over the middle of the field with his back turned.

Mentioned at 39:46 – 40:10

STACKED’s take

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Burrow's comfort in gun formation shapes Bengals' spread-and-shred offensive identity.

Burrow is comfortable throwing from gun formation and hitting explosive plays downfield, but uncomfortable getting under center and throwing over the middle of the field with his back turned; the Bengals offense has adapted to this limitation by committing to a spread-and-shred approach similar to mid-2010s Steelers, which reliably produces a top-eight offense despite not being the original vision.