The Cincinnati Bengals improved to 9-6 on the year and now have a one-game lead in the AFC North after beating the Baltimore Ravens 41-21 on Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium.
It was a day full of career-highs and franchise records for the Bengals. Wide receiver Tee Higgins set a new career high for receiving yards while Burrow set a franchise record for passing yards in a game and defensive end Trey Hendrickson set the franchise record for sacks in a season.
Against a banged up secondary for Baltimore, Burrow threw with ease all day long. The Ravens were down seven cornerbacks heading into the Week 16 matchup. Despite putting almost a perfect game together, the Bengals didn't really end the game until about halfway through the fourth quarter when Higgins scored a touchdown to go up 41-21 and the Bengals' defense came up with a stop on fourth down on the ensuing drive.
The Bengals have now swept the Steelers and Ravens putting them in prime position to win the AFC North. Cincinnati still has to beat Cleveland in Week 18 to end the season as division champions.
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Here's what we learned from the Bengals dominating win over the Ravens:
Burrow's almost perfect performance
Burrow was haunted by his first performance against the Ravens in his rookie year. Since that day, Burrow has destroyed the Ravens' defense. Burrow was nearly perfect against the Ravens on Sunday completing 37 passes for 525 yards. In two games against the Ravens this year, Burrow has completed 58 passes for 941 yards and seven touchdowns.
Burrow's career day makes him the franchise record holder for passing yards in a game.
"I think it means a lot to the whole team," Burrow said of setting the franchise record. "That's not just a reflection of me, that's a reflection of the offensive line, the receivers, the coaching staff and how we went out and executed today so that's exciting."
Bengals head coach, Zac Taylor, said he's trying instill a killer instinct in his team and leaving Burrow in the game despite having a huge lead was part of that. Taylor also said the way he's seen Baltimore rally back in games was another reason why he wanted Burrow to finish the game.
The Bengals and Burrow looked like they received Taylor's message.
"Today, I thought I was really excited about how aggressive we were after we got up because we’ve had some points in the year where we get up by a couple touchdowns, you know, three scores, and we start getting letting aggressive and then the defense knows exactly what we’re gonna do," Burrow said. "It gets tough. And we stayed aggressive today. We were able to score every time we touched the ball."
Tee Higgins emerging as top wide receiver
The Bengals' three-headed monster showed what they can be in full against the Ravens. If it weren't for Tyler Boyd's touchdown catch being taken off the board, Cincinnati would have had three wide receivers record 100 receiving yards against the Ravens. Wide receiver Tee Higgins led the way with 12 catches for 194 yards and two touchdowns. Ja'Marr Chase added seven catches for 125 yards and Boyd recorded three catches for 85 yards and a touchdown.
Taylor gave game balls to all three wide receivers and Burrow for "stepping up" and rising to the occasion.
Higgins has now recorded 1,000 receiving yards for the first time in his career. An achievement he's certainly proud of. Not only did Higgins reach over 1,000 receiving yards on the season, he also set a new career high for himself with his 194 yards.
"It felt so good. First time ever going for 190, yeah, it felt good."
There's no doubt in Burrow's mind that Higgins, Cincinnati's second round pick in 2020, is emerging as one of the best wide receivers in the NFL.
"Absolutely. I mean the last four, five weeks, Tee’s been unbelievable," Burrow said of Higgins. "The way he’s catching the ball, I’ve not really ever seen anything like it. The way he’s catching the ball with strong hands in traffic, it’s been awesome."
Trey Hendrickson continues to be Bengals' defensive MVP
Cincinnati's star defensive end continues to impress week in and out. Hendrickson now has 15 sacks and ranks No. 5 in the NFL in this category. He recorded the Bengals' lone sack against Josh Johnson. Not only does Hendrickson make eye-popping plays when rushing the quarterback, he also makes a ton of plays that don't necessarily show up on the stat sheet.
"He's always making plays, some of them show up on the stat sheet and some of them don't," Zac Taylor said of Hendrickson. "The opponent we're playing always feels his presence. Sometimes that's enough to help us be successful."
It was a special week for the Hendrickson as he not only helped his team to nine wins on the year and a sweep over the Ravens, he was named to his first Pro Bowl earlier this week.
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