ClutchPoints
When Joe Burrow speaks, the NFL world listens. But when the Cincinnati Bengals quarterback breaks a months-long social media silence to defend league officiating, people lose their minds.
Following a chaotic Divisional Round weekend, Burrow took to X, formerly Twitter, for the first time since 2023 to address the “what is a catch” debate that hijacked the national conversation. Two specific plays, one involving the Buffalo Bills and another in the Chicago Bears vs. Los Angeles Rams matchup, left fans irate. Burrow, however, isn’t buying the outrage.
“The amount of ppl that don’t understand what a catch is in the rule book flabbergasts me,” Burrow posted. “And it’s not the officials. The two plays yesterday were not difficult calls, and they got them both right.”
The controversy centered on bang-bang plays where receivers appeared to lose control while hitting the turf. In the Bills’ narrow loss to the Denver Broncos, a crucial interception was upheld in what was a scrappy catch. Later, the Rams benefitted from a similar ruling against the Bears.
While fans screamed for consistency, the stats tell the story of how tight these games were. In the Bills’ loss, Josh Allen threw for 283 yards and three touchdowns, relying on those contested catches to move the chains.
Burrow, who spent the latter half of the season recovering from injury, clearly spent his downtime studying the nuances of the NFL rulebook. His “strong statement” serves as a reminder that while the catch rule remains the most polarizing topic in sports, the players on the field often see the game differently than the fans in the stands.
Whether you agree with “Joe Cool” or not, his return to social media has officially turned up the heat on the road to the Super Bowl.
The post Bengals’ Joe Burrow breaks X silence to weighs in on playoff catch controversy appeared first on ClutchPoints.
