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Joe Burrow: Bengals avoiding COVID-19 surge because ‘there’s not a ton to do in Cincinnati’

The Cincinnati Bengals are one of the few teams in the league that have managed to stay mostly healthy amid an NFL-wide COVID-19 surge.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the Bengals had just one player on their reserve/COVID-19 list.

Quarterback Joe Burrow has a pretty good reason why that is — though southwest Ohio residents may not be too happy with it.

“Fortunately, there’s not a ton to do in Cincinnati,” he said Wednesday, via ESPN.

While a small market town like Cincinnati doesn’t have the draws that the league’s top markets do, and that can be seen as a bad thing to plenty of players, Burrow actually credits it for the team’s health.

“Nobody is going out to clubs and bars and getting COVID every weekend,” he said, via ESPN.

The NFL postponed three games from last week to Monday or Tuesday amid a massive surge in cases throughout the league. NFL Players Association president JC Tretter said Wednesday that the league almost canceled those games entirely.

The NFL’s coronavirus troubles continued on Wednesday, too. Philadelphia Eagles coach Nick Sirianni and New York Jets coach Robert Saleh both tested positive and are now sidelined.

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow
The Bengals have just one player on their reserve/COVID-19 list, and have managed to mostly avoid a league-wide coronavirus surge. (Dustin Bradford/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images)

The Bengals are set to host the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, where they’re listed as a -2.5 point favorite on BetMGM. The two teams are currently tied for the lead in the AFC North and are fighting for a playoff spot in a crowded AFC.

The advantage of having a nearly full roster for that critical matchup isn't lost on Burrow.

"We're still a healthy team, which not a lot of people can say at this point of the season," Burrow said, via ESPN. "We've been lucky as far as injuries and COVID."