Joe Burrow keeps stacking up the kind of performances that force the MVP conversation to get louder.
In Madrid, Spain, the Bengals beat the Atlanta Falcons 34-17, and Burrow was right at the center of it. He finished 24 for 29 for 271 yards, threw three touchdown passes, and, most importantly, did not throw an interception this week.
The numbers already put him in a serious spot. Jordan Love leads the NFL in passing yards with 2,618, while Burrow sits second at 2,386 despite playing one fewer game.
Burrow is also completing 74% of his passes, and he leads the league with 23 touchdown passes. But the bigger story is how in control he looked with Cincinnati’s offense rolling around him.
The Bengals answered Atlanta’s opening touchdown immediately, and the first knockout blow came on a 47-yard touchdown to Ja’Marr Chase. Cincinnati had tried that same kind of shot last week, but Burrow didn’t get enough on the ball and it ended in an interception. This time, he put it right on Chase in stride to tie the game 7-7.
Burrow kept leaning on his top targets as the game unfolded. After an Atlanta field goal, he hit Tee Higgins for a 7-yard third-down completion that kept the drive alive. Higgins secured it with strong hands in traffic, even while being held on the play with no flag coming.
Then came another Chase highlight. Burrow threw the ball a little too far in front of him, and the defender seemed ready to take it away. Instead, Chase snatched it with one hand and turned upfield for extra yards.
That drive ended with Burrow taking matters into his own hands. After the Bengals got to the 1-yard line, he hurried to the line and called his own number on a quarterback sneak. It was his second rushing touchdown in as many weeks, and it gave Cincinnati a 14-10 lead.
Burrow wasn’t done making plays on the ground and through the air. On the next possession, he opened with a 31-yard catch-and-run to Chase.
Later in the drive, he scrambled to his right on a key third down and bought just enough time to uncork one of those “Ja’Marr is down there somewhere” throws. Burrow took a shot on the play, but Chase came down with a diving grab for another first down.
He also showed plenty of poise when pressure came off the left side. Burrow had to double clutch, then stood in and delivered a pass only his receiver could get to.
Chase was the one who made the play again, stretching for the ball and getting both feet down just in bounds. By halftime, the Burrow-to-Chase connection had already produced more than 140 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Higgins got in on the scoring too. Burrow found him for a touchdown just inside the end zone, and Higgins held on cleanly to push the Bengals ahead 21-10.
Burrow kept spreading the ball around as well. Dohnte Meyers, who had a big play last week in the comeback win over Tennessee, got another chunk gain before halftime after Burrow escaped the pocket. Cincinnati settled for a field goal on that drive, taking a 24-10 lead into the break.
Atlanta trimmed the margin to 24-17 in the third quarter, but Burrow answered when the Bengals needed another score. On the touchdown drive, he worked through his reads, stayed firm in the pocket, and fired a strike to Higgins in the middle of the end zone. That score restored a two-possession cushion and put the game out of reach.
There’s still a long way to go, but Burrow is already squarely in the midseason MVP discussion. The Bengals’ defense will have to keep doing its part, because the award usually goes to someone tied to a team piling up regular-season wins. A primetime win over Pittsburgh on Sunday Night Football would only make the MVP buzz louder.
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