CINCINNATI — It wasn’t the prettiest game Joe Burrow has ever played. But it was in some ways one of his most impressive.
Missing Tee Higgins, Zack Moss, Charlie Jones, Orlando Brown Jr. and the disciplined Jermaine Burton, the Bengals quarterback matched a career-high with five touchdown passes, overcoming an up-and-down third quarter to put away the Las Vegas Raiders, 41-24, Sunday before 65,962 sun-drenched fans who finally witnessed a home win for the Bengals in 2024.
A fiery Burrow completed his first 15 passes and finished 27-of-39 for 251 yards and tossed a pair of touchdown passes to Mike Gesicki and single scores to Chase Brown, Drew Sample and Andrei Iosivas.
For Gesicki, it was his first two scores in a Cincinnati uniform and his first touchdown since Christmas Eve last year with New England in Denver.
Burrow started the game 15-of-15 for 104 yards and a touchdown. The Bengals overcame an early 7-0 hole to post their first home win of the season in five tries.
Chase Brown recorded his first career 100-yard game, rushing 27 times for 120 yards while catching a touchdown pass. The Bengals (4-5) win a game they needed on a short week before taking on AFC North rival Baltimore this Thursday night in Baltimore.
On defense, Cincinnati’s Trey Hendrickson recorded a career-high four sacks and took over the NFL lead with 11.
On the down side, the Bengals and head coach Zac Taylor fear they may have lost rookie tight end Erick All Jr. to another right knee injury. He left in the first half and did not return. He was spotted in the locker room walking around without crutches after the game. All had ACL repair on the knee in Oct. 2023 when he was at Iowa.
Also lost to injury during the game was defensive tackle BJ Hill to a rib injury. His status for Baltimore this Thursday is also unknown.
Then there’s the Jermaine Burton drama. Taylor acknowledged after the game that he was a big part of the game plan Sunday before he broke some team rules and didn’t meet team standards late in the week. He was benched Sunday as a healthy scratched but was on the sideline with the team. Late in the game, as Burrow was fighting through some inconsistencies with the offense, Burton’s path crossed Burrow’s and Burrow’s response looked frosty at best.
Gardner Minshew II was 10-of-17 passing for 124 yards for the Raiders (2-7), who dropped their fifth straight game since a 2-2 start to the season. Former Cincinnati Bearcats star quarterback Desmond Ridder replaced Minshew with five minutes left in the third quarter and threw a touchdown pass to rookie tight end Brock Bowers in the final minute.
The Bengals played the game without several of their key weapons on offense as starting left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., running back Zack Moss and starting wide receiver Tee Higgins all missed the game with various injuries. Receiver Charlie Jones missed the game with a groin injury.
The Bengals broke the game open with a Burrow touchdown pass to Andrei Iosivas with 32 seconds left in the first half and a Burrow TD toss to Drew Sample to cap the opening drive of the second half, expanding Cincinnati’s lead to 24-10.
After slamming his helmet to the turf on the sideline after failed series, Burrow committed his only miscue when his pass was intercepted by Jack Jones and returned 29 yards for a touchdown, cutting Cincinnati’s lead to 31-17 with 13:17 left in the fourth quarter.
The Raiders lost a pair of starters in the first half, as left tackle Kolton Miller and cornerback Nate Hobbs left with ankle injuries while left guard Cody Whitehair left in the third quarter, also with a ankle injury.
