'What's there to be happy about?' — Joe Burrow's reaction to win over Raiders is exactly what the Bengals need
The Cincinnati Bengals' first home win of the 2024 season came on a day when quarterback Joe Burrow threw for five touchdown passes. Many celebrations were had in the end zone as the Bengals took down the Raiders, 41-24. It was the first time players got to relish their success on the season in front […]
The Cincinnati Bengals' first home win of the 2024 season came on a day when quarterback Joe Burrow threw for five touchdown passes.
Many celebrations were had in the end zone as the Bengals took down the Raiders, 41-24. It was the first time players got to relish their success on the season in front of the home crowd. The win keeps the Bengals in the playoff race entering a tough stretch of their schedule.
Amid all the smiles, dances, and hope was Burrow looking as pissed off as he's ever been.
Staying ahead on the scoreboard is what counts. Playing up to the standard is the next level Burrow wants his team to reach.
Burrow told reporters after the game that the first half was as good as his offense has played. What happened afterwards is where his frustration originated from.
"I'm going to have my standard of play, and I'm going to have the my idea of the standard of what we should live up to as an offense and coaching staff and myself and and everybody," Burrow told reporters. "And when I feel like we live up to it, I'm going to let us know. And when I feel like we don't live up to it, I'm going to let us know too. Like I said, good and bad today, so not any time to to sit and dwell on the good we had today. It's a short week. We got to learn from the bad and and move on."
The Bengals started the third quarter with two of Burrow's five touchdowns. It ended with two punts and the first possession of the fourth quarter saw him throw a pick-six on a screen pass to Ja'Marr Chase thanks to Andrei Iosivas missing a key block off the snap.
Critical errors, drops, subs coming in late. All little things that add up to the guy running everything on the field.
"I'm not just gonna ignore the bad and and dwell on the great that we did today," Burrow said. "I don't think that's a recipe for improvement. I don't think that's a recipe for getting better. I'm gonna be hard on myself. I'm gonna be hard on us to execute the way that I feel like we need to to execute. And I feel like we didn't put ourselves in great positions in that game to finish it off the right way. We ended up doing it. Defense came out big, but, you know, we could have done better."
Winning by 17 is hard in the NFL, but the Bengals caught some breaks. The Raiders suffered a plethora of injuries throughout the day and ended up playing two quarterbacks. They were touchdown underdogs on Sunday for a reason.
The Bengals won't be favorites of that magnitude for a while. Putting a better performance on the field is how similar results can be achieved against the quality teams in store for them.
"Yeah, I think just how the season has gone, knowing what's ahead of us, knowing what we're gonna have to do to get back into this, one win isn't gonna make or break our season," Burrow said. "So I'm gonna strive for perfection every day and every game. So until that happens, what's there to be happy about?"
Quoting Kobe Bryant tells everyone where your mind is at the moment. Complacency is not in Burrow's lexicon, nor should it be for the Bengals.
Cincinnati has a short week of rest before playing at the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night. It was this exact game last year when Burrow suffered his season-ending wrist injury and the Bengals' 2023 season was altered for the worst.
Only a few days for everyone else to follow Burrow's lead. He's certainly not wasting any time on his part.
