Burrow’s record day puts Bengals in first
Joe Burrow’s franchise record-breaking 525-yard passing performance clearly meant something to the Cincinnati Bengals, who continued calling deep throws for him late in the fourth quarter with a 20-point lead against division rival Baltimore until the mark was secured.
Burrow was more interested in what the final score — 41-21 over the Ravens — meant for his team, which took over first place in the AFC North with two games left.
“We’re right where we want to be,” Burrow said. “We knew we had a chance to be in this position in training camp. We knew the kind of team we had. You couldn’t ask for a better situation right now. We control our destiny. Win these next two games, and we’ve got the division locked.”
Burrow, who snapped Boomer Esiason’s team record of 522 yards, was 37 of 46 with two touchdown passes to Tee Higgins and one each to Tyler Boyd and Joe Mixon as the Bengals swept the Ravens for the first time since 2015. Cincinnati won 41-17 at Baltimore on Oct. 24.
Burrow couldn’t remember if he had ever thrown for that many yards in a game.
“Maybe. Not sure. Probably. I threw for a ton of yards in high school, so who knows,” he said. “I really don’t think about the yards too much. I’m just as happy about throwing for (148) yards against the Raiders and going out and winning the game. So whatever it takes to win the game. Today it took throwing for 525 yards and being smart with the football.”
The Bengals (9-6) are having their best season since 2015, when they last reached the playoffs and were eliminated by the Pittsburgh Steelers in a wild-card game.
Tee Higgins had 12 receptions for 194 yards. Ja’Marr Chase caught seven for 125 yards, and Boyd had three catches for 85 yards.
“He’s making really good decisions,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said of Burrow. “He was seeing some of the stuff down the field really well. You could tell his confidence he had in the pocket to get away from some pressures that showed up. You can just tell when a guy’s got it and today he had it for sure.”
With Lamar Jackson out with an ankle injury and backup Tyler Huntley on the COVID-19 list, Josh Johnson — signed as a free agent 10 days earlier — started at quarterback for the Ravens (8-7). His 4-yard pass to Rashod Bateman put Baltimore up 10-7 in the first quarter, but the Ravens — especially their injury-ravaged secondary — couldn’t keep up with Burrow and the Bengals.
Johnson was 28 for 40 for 304 yards with two touchdown passes and an interception. Tight end Mark Andrews had eight catches for 125 yards and a TD. The Ravens were ineffective running the ball, with Devonta Freeman leading the team with 17 yards.
Baltimore dropped out of playoff position in the AFC and will hope to get some key players back from injuries and the COVID-19 list for its final two games, both at home, against the Rams and the Steelers.
“We’re going to focus on the last two and see what we get accomplished and see if we can work our way into the playoffs,” coach John Harbaugh said.
Late in the game with the outcome decided, Burrow kept throwing the ball in a bid for the record, which he shattered on a 52yard bomb to Mixon after the 2-minute warning.