Joe Burrow has message for NFL about neutral-site game

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) gives a thumbs up to the fans after the fourth quarter of the NFL Week 4 game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Jacksonville Jaguars at Paul Brown Stadium in downtown Cincinnati on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2020. The Bengals collected their first win of the season, 33-25, from the Jaguars.

The Cincinnati Bengals and quarterback Joe Burrow made sure there would be no neutral site AFC Championship game this year. Cincinnati beat the Buffalo Bills 27-10 on Sunday in their AFC Divisional Round playoff game in Buffalo. The lack of a neutral-site game was hardly lost on Burrow, either.

Burrow was asked by CBS reporter Tracy Wolfson about rendering the neutral site AFC title game irrelevant by beating the Bills and setting up a battle in Kansas City next week. His reaction was perfect.

“Better send those refunds,” Burrow said on the CBS broadcast.

Due to the suspended Bills-Bengals regular season game that came as a result of Damar Hamlin’s medical emergency, the NFL had determined that any Bills-Chiefs AFC Championship would be played in Atlanta. This was because the result of that suspended game would have been pivotal in determining which of the two teams would finish atop the AFC standings.

The NFL had already started selling tickets for a possible Atlanta game out of necessity, though that move made the Bengals feel disrespected, which is why Burrow was so eager to send his message. The league was in line to sell a lot of tickets to that game, so they will be issuing a lot of refunds.