It is the little details you wouldn’t really think about as a fan watching that can make such a difference.
Orlando Brown Jr. is going into his third season as a Cincinnati Bengals. It will be his eighth season in the NFL after spending a few years with the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs.
Brown has probably blocked for most of the top quarterbacks in the AFC, which gives him some of the most unique insight among anyone talking about the likes of Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow,
Recently when asked about what it is like to be Burrow’s left tackle, Brown sited something many fans probably wouldn’t even consider:
“One of my favorite things about him is I know where he is going to be in the pocket,” Brown told Jon Gruden. “So for me, that makes my job a little bit easier… I love blocking for Joe man, it has been really cool and such a blessing to be able to be on this side of his transition as he moves into an MVP-caliber player.”
In the modern NFL quarterbacks can no longer be statues. If your quarterback can’t extend plays, your team probably isn’t going too far. That can also make thing difficult for offensive linemen when their quarterback is too sporadic or constantly abandoning the pocket.
Burrow seemingly has that rare ability to do both. He understands that sinking too far back in the pocket will only make the edge rushers’ job that much easier since the offensive tackle can’t see what the quarterback is doing behind them. In fact, offensive tackles are often times taught to essentially escort an outside rusher trying to make a move beyond the pocket around the quarterback. If your quarterback is farther in the pocket than you anticipate though, it makes for an easy sack.
Offensive tackles have one of the most unforgiving jobs on a football field. They have to be able to block some of the biggest athletic freaks to walk on a football field, and if they get beat even once then it is a bad game for them.
Brown is one of the few offensive lineman the Bengals have who can hold their own more times than not, which means he can get stuck on an island against some nasty match ups. Knowing when a play calls for Burrow to be at a certain depth in the pocket, that he will be at that depth, just rings true for the kind of player Burrow has proven to be in his NFL career.
Burrow will never not be one of the most prepared quarterbacks in the NFL. You can tell he values guys he can trust to be where the play call tells them to be or that recognize where the open space is. It only makes sense that he pays that same attention of detail to where he needs to be for whatever protection is called.
