The Cincinnati Bengals experienced their worst case scenario in Thursday night's game versus the Baltimore Ravens when quarterback Joe Burrow left with a wrist injury. Jake Browning filled in at quarterback and the Bengals lost 34-20. A day later, it was revealed Burrow will be out for the season due to a torn wrist ligament.

However, the NFL world became suspicious that the Bengals had known about Burrow's injury before the game when images surfaced of Burrow wearing a wrist support. ESPN's Adam Schefter then announced that the NFL would investigate why Cincinnati had not listed Burrow on the injury report beforehand if his wrist was bugging him.

Burrow came out to clear the matter, stating that the compression sleeve he was wearing was completely unrelated to an injury.

“This is a completely different thing. It's not uncommon for guys to wear compression sleeves on the plane. When you go up to that altitude, things can swell up … This is a completely new injury,” via NFL Network's Andrew Siciliano.

Joe Burrow's comments have not fully extinguished the investigation yet, but would be a plausible explanation for why he wasn't on the injury report. Coach Zac Taylor also doubled down on their claim that the pregame wrist support was unrelated to his injury.

With Burrow out the rest of the year, the Bengals' thin playoff hopes now rest on the inexperienced Jake Browning, a former 2019 undrafted free agent out of Washington. Browning will make his first NFL start in nine days versus the Pittsburgh Steelers.