Joe Burrow reaches a Bengals record significantly quicker compared to how long it took his predecessor to set it
Bengals QB Joe Burrow can make this record his own in the coming days.
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow only played three quarters of football in Cincinnati’s Week 17 win over the Arizona Cardinals, but he still managed to eclipsed 300 passing yards.
Burrow’s 305-yard outing was his second game with 300 yards or more this season, and the 28th such game of his career. He now shares the Bengals franchise record for most 300-yard games with Andy Dalton, the QB replaced by Burrow in 2020.
Impressive, right? Now consider the fact that Dalton started nearly nine full seasons in Cincinnati, and Burrow is about to wrap up his sixth.
Joe Burrow catches Andy Dalton’s record with ample time to spare
Sunday was Burrow’s 76th career regular season game for the Bengals. Dalton suited up 133 times for the club.
Burrow caught him with 57 games to spare. That’s over three full seasons.
It’s helpful to have wide receivers like Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins to rack up 300-yard days so frequently, but operating with clean pockets is also an advantage Burrow typically capitalizes on. He saw plenty of those against the Cardinals and, per Next Gen Stats, was a perfect 19/19 for 203 yards passing without pressure in his face, and all three of touchdowns came on those attempts as well.
Business as usual from the perspective of head coach Zac Taylor.
“Nothing surprises me with how he did,” Taylor said of Burrow. “I think the part of the game that he won’t get enough credit for is their pressure package, and their fronts, and different personnel groupings, and different alignments, and how they tagged their protections on second down and third down this week was probably as difficult as any week we have in terms of identifying that. They really hit home against a lot of teams.”
It’s this processing ability that really enables the production he almost casually accumulates at this point in his career.
“I just think his command isn’t something that people in the stands are necessary going to notice,” Taylor said. “They’re gonna see completion for a good play. They’re not gonna see all the nuance that went into the communication, and the awareness and looking at how where a guy’s foot is, where his hand is. I mean, all the things that he factored into it to make sure that we were on point. I think that’s an underrated part of it, and I thought our guys did a great job with the actual picking it up, understanding what we’re trying to do, and doing a great job with the protection aspect of it.”
Burrow can attempt to stand alone with 29 300-yard games this coming Sunday against the Cleveland Browns in the season finale. He’ll have to utilize his pressure awareness against the NFL sack-leader Myles Garrett as the Defensive Player of the Year favorite looks to set his own record for sacks in a season.
If Burrow comes up short, we’ll just have to wait until the 2026 season for his next chance at franchise history. His own history tells us we won’t have to wait long.
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