Bengals QB Joe Burrow declares himself ready for season opener

 When the Cincinnati Bengals open their 2024 regular season on Sept. 8 against the New England Patriots they are going to have their franchise quarterback, Joe Burrow, in the starting lineup. 

The source of that news — Joe Burrow, himself — declared himself ready for the season opener on Thursday.

“When game one comes, I’ll be ready,” Burrow said, via the team's website. “It doesn’t matter if we have [another] one or not. Another one is going to be nice, but I’ll be ready.”

Burrow missed the second half of the 2023 season due to a wrist injury and came back to play a modest 13 snaps in the team's preseason opener this month. It has already been determined that the former LSU star will not play this week and it remains unlikely that he will take the field in the team's final preseason game in two weeks.

That is not a lot of game action for Burrow to get back up to speed, but he and the Bengals obviously feel confident enough with his experience to have him be ready to by the time of their Week 1 clash with the Patriots. 

The return of a healthy Burrow should be a huge lift for a Bengals team that is coming off a highly disappointing 9-8 season. Burrow's health played a role in that disappointing showing. He was limited early in the season due to a training-camp calf injury, resulting in a slow start for both him and the team. Then as he finally started to hit his stride mid-season, the aforementioned wrist injury ended his season. 

The absence of Burrow wasn't the only issue for Cincinnati a year ago — its defense was also a major problem — but his return could be a game-changer in the AFC. Quarterback is the most important position in the sport and Burrow (when healthy) is one of the best in the NFL.