Joe Burrow keeps stacking reasons to believe this season could end with him at the center of the MVP conversation.
The Bengals quarterback already has his offense humming at a new level after Week 7, when Cincinnati ripped off five straight touchdowns in a 35-13 win over the Ravens in Baltimore. That kind of burst, paired with what looks like a favorable stretch ahead, has Burrow trending toward something even bigger than a strong season. The way he’s playing now, there’s a real case that the best is still coming.
The setup around him is better, too. Burrow has a much stronger defense behind him, one led by Dexter Lawrence.
He’s also a better quarterback now than he was two years ago, and Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins have both improved since then. The offensive line, which got him lit up in ’24, is in a much better place as well.
That improvement shows up in the numbers. Burrow’s sack rate sits at 4.2%, a figure Dan Orlovsky called especially encouraging. And when you compare what Burrow is doing now to his 2024 production, the trajectory points in the right direction.
The bigger picture is even more striking. Burrow now has as many regular-season wins in a Bengals uniform as Carson Palmer did, with 46. He got there in 14 fewer games, while throwing 15 more touchdown passes and 44 fewer interceptions than Palmer on the way to those 46 wins in Stripes.
That’s the kind of résumé that starts to feel historic, especially when injuries and missed time are part of the story. Burrow has already done enough to put himself in the MVP mix, and PFF’s Gordon McGuinness backed that up by pointing to how dominant Burrow has been since 2020 from Week 8 onward.
McGuinness wrote that Burrow’s 19.9% positively graded play rate ranks third among qualifying quarterbacks, while his 5.4% negatively graded play rate is the lowest. He also noted that since entering the league in 2020, Burrow has posted a 95.5 PFF grade from Week 8 through the end of the season, including the playoffs, which is the best mark in the NFL among quarterbacks with at least 1,000 qualifying dropbacks over that span.
Josh Allen is the closest challenger to that standard at 91.6, with Matthew Stafford next at 91.4. Allen also looks like Burrow’s main competition for MVP, and the award may end up coming down to which team wins more games. For now, though, Cincinnati’s defense appears to be better than Buffalo’s.
Burrow’s comfort in the pocket is a huge part of why this feels sustainable. Ben Fennell pointed out that Burrow leads NFL quarterbacks at 98.9% Passing in Tackle Box via Next Gen Stats, ahead of Penix, Jameis, Kirk and Stafford, and noted that Burrow’s career mark is 97.4%. He also compared Burrow’s time to throw at 2.65 seconds to Brady’s 2.59 seconds over Brady’s last seven years, adding, “Dude sits in shotgun and just rips seeds.”
With Tennessee up next in Week 8 and an easier schedule by NFL standards after that, Burrow has a clear runway to keep building on what he’s already done. If the defense keeps improving and he stays on the field, the Bengals are suddenly looking like a team nobody will want to face. Three years of playoff absence and a lot of frustration are sitting there in the background, and Burrow looks ready to turn all of it loose.
In Other News...
Demetrius Knight Jr Keeps Showing Up In Bengals' Biggest Moments
Demetrius Knight Jr. has become one of those Bengals defenders who seems to find himself in the middle of the games most consequential stretches, even when the day starts with a scare. In Sundays overtime win over the Titans, the rookie linebacker was shaken up in the first quarter and needed evaluation before getting back on the field, another reminder that his first NFL season has already included more than its share of bumps and bruises.
Knights latest return mattered almost immediately, because Cincinnati kept leaning on him in a game that stayed tight deep into the second half. He answered with one of the biggest defensive plays of the afternoon, a stop that flipped the momentum and fit the pattern he has been building all season: when the Bengals need a jolt, Knight keeps finding his way into the frame. [Read more 🡒]
Dexter Lawrence Is Giving Bengals Fans Another Reason To Love That Trade
Dexter Lawrence II keeps finding ways to matter for Cincinnati, and his latest contribution came in the Bengals overtime win against the Titans in Week 8. After recovering a fumble, Lawrence helped swing the field position in a game that needed every break it could get, adding another timely moment to a stretch that has already made his arrival from the Giants look like a smart move for Cincinnati.
Zac Taylor has taken notice, praising Lawrences impact and pointing to the key plays he has made in recent games. The Bengals also locked him in with a one-year contract extension recently, a sign they see him as more than a short-term fix. For a team that has spent plenty of time searching for difference-makers, Lawrence is giving fans another reason to like the trade that brought him in. [Read more 🡒]
JaMarr Chases Sideline Frustration Says Plenty About Bengals Offense
JaMarr Chase did plenty of damage against the Titans, hauling in 11 catches for 141 yards and a touchdown, but the bigger takeaway for the Bengals may have been the edge he showed when things bogged down on the sideline. Cincinnatis offense has been searching for a cleaner rhythm early in games, and Chases body language offered another glimpse of how much that has been bothering one of its top playmakers.
Joe Burrow brushed off the sideline frustration as a good sign, reading it as competitive fire rather than a problem. Chase also leaned into the conversation afterward by pointing back to head coach Zac Taylor when asked about the slow starts, a nod to a phrase Taylor has already made part of the teams vocabulary. For a Bengals offense built around high expectations, even the frustration says something about how much is still being left on the field. [Read more 🡒]