Titans defense clearly didn't respect Joe Burrow amidst injury

In the midst of a 27-3 blowout loss to the Tennessee Titans, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow continued to struggle. He tweaked his calf in the Week 2 loss to Baltimore but has played through it the past two weeks despite clearly being in pain.

This past weekend in Nashville, Burrow struggled mightily. He threw for just barely over 160 yards and was sacked three times. The biggest issue is that he can't do the things that made him great before, such as escaping the pocket and scrambling for a crucial first down.

The Titans defense knew all about Burrow's immobility and took advantage of it. This defensive scheme against Burrow in the red zone says all you need to know about what the Titans thought of Burrow's lack of running ability.

Titans knew Joe Burrow couldn't run the ball

The screen grab above indicates that the Titans knew darn well that Burrow was limited in his rushing abilities and so they dared him to run against them. A defense isn't leaving that part of the field wide open for a quarterback who isn't nicked up.

This is going to continue to be the norm for the Bengals while Burrow is dealing with this calf injury. The team needs to decide if it's worth it to continue playing him while having to use a limited playbook or if it's time to rest Burrow, throw Jake Browning out there, and open up the playbook more.

Browning isn't going to be what a healthy Burrow can be but at this point, isn't it worth giving him a chance to see if he can be better than at least an injured Burrow? The season might depend on it.