Archdeacon: Naughty and Nice — Burrow delivers for Bengals in record style

Joe Burrow sat there with a satisfied – and sometimes impishly cocky – look on his face after he’d just completed a herculean job. Not flying around the world giving out presents but going through the air all afternoon at Paul Brown Stadium on Sunday to lead his Cincinnati Bengals in a rout of the Baltimore Ravens, 41-21.

Just like the jolly fat man, the Bengals second-year quarterback had handled all matters on his “naughty and nice” list.

Instead of coal in the stocking, he dumped the most passing yards in Bengals’ history -- 525 yards -- and four touchdown passes on the Ravens defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, the former Trotwood Madison High all-state linebacker, and later a long-haul driver for his family’s local trucking business until he went on to become one of the most respected defensive gurus in the NFL.

To be fair, Martindale was working with a cobbled-together defense that had been hobbled by injuries and positive COVID tests.

But he didn’t help matters last week when asked by a reporter if the Bengals passing game would present the same challenges that Green Bay had the week before.

Against the Packers, Martindale had his secondary double and triple team standout receiver Davante Adams. Even though Green Bay eked out a one-point win, the Ravens limited Adams to six catches for 44 yards, far below his 113 yards a game average in the previous three weeks.

Martindale basically said they would not be doubling up on any Bengals receiver because it would be Burrow throwing them the ball, not the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers.

“Aaron Rodgers is a Hall of Fame quarterback and I don’t think we’re ready to buy a gold jacket for Joe yet,” Martindale said.

The gold jacket is a Hall of Fame reference and Burrow – whose 525 yards are the fourth most in a game in NFL history, after Norm Van Brocklin threw for 554 in 1951 and both Warren Moon (1990) and Matt Schaub (2012) threw for 527 -- admitted he heard Martindale’s comment and took some exception to it:

“I didn’t think it was a necessary comment. I wouldn’t say I was offended by it. I’m in Year 2 and who knows what’s gonna happen down the road.”

As for what happened at the end of the game, that may well have been Burrow rubbing the Ravens’ face into a perceived diss.

Credit: Aaron Doster

Credit: Aaron Doster

With Cincinnati up 41-21 and less than two minutes left, Burrow – questionably still in the game and getting sacked – unloaded a 52-yard completion to running back Joe Mixon that brought the ball down to the Ravens 6-yard line.

It’s the completion that gave Burrow the Bengals all-time, single-game mark – eclipsing Boomer Esiason’s 490 yards in 1990.

“Was that on your mind when you were throwing for 525 yards?” Burrow was asked.

“Aah…maybe,” he said with a sly grin.

The Bengals were trying to score at the end, though Burrow did take a knee on the final snap.

It’s debatable whether throwing deep when the game is well in in hand is a bit classless, though Bengals coach Zac Taylor claimed it was necessary.

He said the Ravens are never out of a game, which is ridiculous this time when they down three scores with less than two minutes left.

But his other point is well-taken.

“Our guys need to develop a killer instinct right now,” he said. “Now’s the time we have to keep playing our best football. Baltimore’s been in this position before and they never quit.”

The Bengals are 9-6 now, leading the AFC North and in great position to make the playoffs.

Credit: Aaron Doster

Credit: Aaron Doster

For Taylor, this must be a time of affirmation after winning just six games total in his first two seasons as the Bengals coach.

Mixon, who ran for 65 yards and touchdown and caught six passes for 70 yards and another TD, saw no problem with the team keeping its foot on the gas: “Why not? The past couple of years people have been doing that to us. It’s a great feeling to have the roles reversed.”

Burrow believes the team is developing that killer instinct his coach spoke of:

“We’re getting there. Today, 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 down on our aggressiveness. And then the defense knows exactly what we’re gonna do.

“It gets tough. And we stayed aggressive today. We were able to score every time we touched the ball.”

Sunday he said the Bengals showed who they are:

“We’re just a complete team. We’ve got Joe Mixon. We’ve got all those receivers and we’ve got an O-line that’s playing really well. Teams are going to have to pick their poison with us. We’ve had some games where we haven’t quite executed the way we wanted to. But we’ve also had some games like today that you can’t have executed any better.”

The Bengals receiving corps – which made any Ravens double teams useless – had a stellar day.

Tee Higgins caught a career-high 12 passes (one off the Bengals mark) for 194 yards and two touchdowns.

Ja’Marr Chase had seven catches for 125 yards and Tyler Boyd added 85 yards on three catches. He culminated a 68-yard TD catch in the second quarter with a running front flip that he landed with a somersault.

Higgins gave him an A- on it, only because he said he once saw Antonio Brown land a flip on his feet.

Sunday it was down to style points for the Bengals.

This is a team that’s feeling good about itself now and it has more to do than just what happens on the field.

Mixon talked about the team’s chemistry:

“We have it in the locker room: offensively, defensively and on special teams. It’s the best thing I’ve seen since I’ve been here.

“For instance, at Christmas guys came around handing out gifts – taking care of (everybody). It was a great thing to see.”

That was all about the Nice List.

And the Naughty?

That was handled Sunday in record fashion.