CINNCINNATI – Most people will watch Season 2 of Netflix’s “Quarterback” in linear fashion, but for who don't, Episode 5 likely will be the most popular starting spot.
That’s because that episode, titled “Stumbling Blocks” is the one that first dives into the burglary at Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow’s home.
The subject comes up toward the end of the episode essentially as a teaser for Episode 6, but we have an entire article dedicated to the topic here.
In keeping with the chronological theme, let’s start the review of Episode 5 at the beginning.
While the previous episodes with a montage of all three quarterbacks – Atlanta’s Kirk Cousins and Detroit’s Jared Goff being the other two – laying out the theme for the show, this one starts with an aerial shot of Cincinnati and dives into a Burrow vignette with him sitting.
Burrow is watching the Lions and Colts on his bye week. The Bengals didn’t play either team during the season, so Burrow is simply doing what a lot of people do on a free Sunday, watching football.
He comments on how well Goff is playing and then goes into the Bengals issues.
“It just hasn’t gone our way this year,” he says. “It feels like every single game we haven’t made any plays we need to make down the stretch. I miss a throw, the defense doesn’t make a play, we miss a kick.”
But he points out the team has won seven in a row before and then delivers either his cheesiest line of the show or an homage to one of his favorite shows, Spongebob:
“If we make the playoffs, I’ll be happy as a clam.”
Tonight, I’m happy as a clam! And let me assure you, they’re pretty jovial creatures.
— SpongeBob (@SpongeBob) September 11, 2012
The segment spins into practice coming off the bye, where Burrow talks about purchasing a Batmobile, which includes a funny interaction with wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.
The show shifts to pregame at Paycor ahead of the Week 13 contest against Pittsburgh and shows a flyover of Army helicopters.
“Wouldn’t chopper blades slice the whole sideline in half,” Burrow asks.
“As long as it’s their sideline, not me,” head coach Zac Taylor muses.
“That’d be a tough way to go out,” Burrow adds.
One of the highlights is Burrow’s 4-yard jump pass to Chase in the second quarter, in which he gets knocked down.
“That was f—king sick,” he says of his pass while lying on the ground.
But the Bengals lost 44-38 to fall to 4-8, and there are the standard dejection shots.
The whole segment lasts five minutes before switching to Cousins for 11 and 1/2 minutes and Goff for 16.
The show circles back to Burrow in preparation for Week 14 against the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football.
We watch Burrow see the unveiling of his “Simpsons” character for the alt-cast.
Apparently, Burrow hasn’t watched the show much because he grouses about the lack of a chin, which is pretty much a staple of all of the “Simpsons” characters.
We hear from Burrow and Chase about the play that won the game, the 40-yard touchdown with 1:01 remaining in which Chase shakes one defender and beats everyone else down the sideline.
And there is the obligatory footage of Chase smashing a "Simpsons" donut in Burrow's face after the game.
Then there is a shot in the locker room where senior defensive analyst Mark Duffner wraps up Burrow and tells him he’s “the toughest mother-f—ker I’ve ever seen.”
We hear Taylor’s postgame speech and the team doing the “Who Dey” chant, and then it shifts to a Burrow interview.
“I walked into the locker room pumped, fired up about the win, and then …,” he says as it switches to a shot of him reading his phone at his locker and learning of the break-in.
There is a voiceover of news reports about the burglary as the episode fades to black.
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