Joe Burrow played exceptionally well, and Chase Brown had a standout performance on the ground. Trey Hendrickson made a strong impact on defense.
The Cincinnati Bengals delivered one of their best performances at a crucial time in their season.
Burrow tied his career high with five touchdown passes, Brown rushed for a personal best of 120 yards, and Cincinnati secured its first home victory by defeating the Las Vegas Raiders 41-24 on Sunday.
The Bengals (4-5) rebounded nicely after a tough 37-17 loss to Philadelphia last weekend. They have won four of their last six games after starting the season with three losses.
There won’t be much time for celebration, as they will head to Baltimore to face the AFC North-leading Ravens on Thursday night. Burrow wasn’t too impressed with his performance or that of the team. He wants to keep looking ahead.
“Just how this season has gone, knowing what’s ahead of us, knowing what we’re going to have to do to get back into this, one win isn’t going to make or break our season,” the fifth-year quarterback said. “I’m going to keep striving for perfection every day, every game. Until that happens, what’s there to be happy about?”
Burrow completed 27 of 39 passes for 251 yards, throwing touchdown passes to Brown, Andrei Iosivas, Drew Sample, and two to Mike Gesicki. However, he also threw an interception that Jack Jones returned for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
Brown received a season-high 27 carries since Zack Moss was out with a neck injury, consistently gaining yards for the Bengals, who have had difficulties with their running game this season. Hendrickson recorded four sacks.
“Four sacks, seven quarterback hits — that’s tough to match,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. “There were moments when we needed a big stop on defense. A lot of guys came up big for us, but Trey came up the biggest.”
The Raiders (2-7) helped the Bengals with penalties, and quarterback Gardner Minshew lost the ball in the third quarter, which led to a 10-yard touchdown catch by Mike Gesicki.
This was Gesicki’s first touchdown since last Christmas Eve when he played for the Patriots, putting the Bengals ahead 31-10. Gesicki finished the game with five catches for 100 yards.
Minshew ended the game with 10 completions out of 17 attempts for 124 yards. He was replaced late in the third quarter by former University of Cincinnati star Desmond Ridder, who also lost the ball on a strip sack by Hendrickson in the fourth quarter.
Ridder did manage to throw his first touchdown pass of the season to Brock Bowers with 41 seconds remaining in the game.
Jakobi Meyers had a strong performance for Las Vegas, catching eight passes for 105 yards. The Raiders scored first with a 1-yard run by Zamir White.
The Bengals responded with a drive that lasted nearly eight minutes. Brown ran the ball five times for 21 yards and caught three passes for another 21 yards, including a 1-yard touchdown.
After both teams exchanged field goals, Cincinnati benefited from an unnecessary roughness penalty on Maxx Crosby, who jumped offside and hit Burrow hard. Just three plays later, Burrow connected with Iosivas for a 10-yard touchdown pass, giving the Bengals a 17-10 lead at halftime.
