Joe Burrow's return to preseason action couldn't have gone any better

Joe Burrow must have some pretty strong predictive powers, or maybe manifestation ability, because his return to preseason action for the Cincinnati Bengals went exactly how he hoped. Cincinnati's preseason opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers represented Burrow's first game action of any kind since suffering a season-ending wrist injury that required surgery last season. It also represented his first preseason action since 2021.

Leading up to the game, Burrow was asked what his ideal preseason action would entail, and the star signal-caller revealed that his perfect preseason would consist of one single drive that concluded with a touchdown: "Hopefully one drive. Score a touchdown and get outta there," he said.

Burrow leads Bengals to touchdown on opening drive against Buccaneers

Well, guess what? That's exactly how Burrow's preseason went. He was under center for the Bengals' first drive of the game against Tampa Bay, and sure enough, he led the team all the way down the field and capped the drive off with a nice touchdown toss to Tee Higgins. It was a highlight that Bengals fans have been waiting months upon months to see.

Rust? What rust? Burrow certainly looked pretty sharp in his limited action in the game.

The opening drive proved to be Burrow's only drive of the game against Tampa Bay, and it will likely be the only game action that he sees all preseason, as Bengals coaches -- and fans -- saw all that they needed to from the former No. 1 overall pick. Now the name of the game is getting Burrow to the regular season as healthy as possible. In all, Burrow went 5-for-7 for 51 yards and that touchdown against the Buccaneers.

Those five completions represented Burrow's first ever preseason completions. He had notably only taken three total preseason snaps in his entire career prior to the game against Tampa Bay and he had never completed a pass.

There are high hopes for Burrow and the Bengals in 2024, and his [albeit limited] play in the preseason will do nothing to dull those hopes. If he's healthy, there are enough weapons around him -- on both sides of the ball -- for the team to be something special.