Cincinnati Bengals confirm QB Joe Burrow out for rest of 2023 season

The Cincinnati Bengals said goodbye to their quarterback (QB) Joe Burrow for the 2023 season after he suffered a torn ligament in his right wrist, the team announced on Friday.

The injury happened in the Bengals' 34-20 loss to the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland, on Thursday. He quit the game after throwing a four-yard touchdown in the second quarter. He was spotted having problem completing a pass on the sideline after that play. Magnetic resonance imaging later revealed how bad the problem is.

"I felt a pop in the middle of the throw," Burrow said. "I tried to give it a go but couldn't get it done." He recalled that he landed on the wrist after the Ravens' defensive end Jadeveon Clowney hit him. He completed 11 of his 17 passes for 101 yards and one touchdown and was sacked twice before quitting the game.

"It's tough," Burrow said. "You work so hard for seasons and moments like these. Whenever you get hurt and it ends early, it's tough to handle. That's a part of the game."

Backup QB Jake Browning replaced Burrow for the rest of Thursday's game and threw eight out of 14 attempts 68 yards and one touchdown. He was sacked three times. The Bengals are 5-5 after the loss and sit at the bottom in the American Football Conference (AFC) North. There are seven games to go, but they shouldn't hold onto much hope for the playoffs.

"It kills you to watch somebody have to go through this, you know, several times now," the team's head coach Zac Taylor said.

This was the second season-ending injury Burrow has suffered since he entered the National Football League (NFL) as the first-overall selection in 2020. The first time happened in his rookie season when he suffered multiple torn ligaments in his left knee on November 23, 2020.

"A lot of guys in that [locker] room are injured, have been injured," Burrow said. "A lot of guys across the league, that's part of the job that we do. [It's] expected. It's not going to be the last time something like this happens in my career, too. That's just part of it."