“There is no panic in the locker room”

The Cincinnati Bengals appeared dead in the water for nearly two quarterfinals Thursday night against the Jacksonville Jaguars, unable to generate anything on offense or stop defense.

After losing 14-0 to open the third quarter, the Bengals’ offense then became unstoppable. Joe Burrow led three straight second-half touchdowns, the defense had just enough saves and the second-year quarterback guided a 5:33 winning shot to close the 24-21 victory.

“There is no panic in the locker room,” Burrow said of the comeback victory. “We knew we didn’t play well in the first half. That’s what it is. But we had all the faith in the world that we were going to play well in the second half. second-half team. We will have to keep that finish, and we will have to play better in the first half on offense, but I’m proud of the way we responded. “

Cincy’s offense was a finicky ship for most of the first half. After a 66-yard run that led to a missed field goal to open the game, the Bengals generated just one first down in four carries the rest of the half.

Then came a crucial moment in the last minute of the second quarter. As the defense was licked by a dashing attack from the Jags led by rookie Trevor Lawrence, the Bengals took a stand, stuffing the Jags at the 1-yard line in fourth and on goal. Avoiding going into a 21-0 hole was huge, with the Bengals recovering the ball after the break.

“It was the turning point of the game,” said Bengals coach Zac Taylor. “It was about to be 21-0 just before half-time. It’s a tough hole to dig. We think we could do it, but you sure don’t want that to come in at the halfway mark. time and they pick up the momentum. as the momentum returned in our favor. Our defense finally got a chance to rest because the offense was leaving them out. It’s for both teams. We have them. left to dry in attack so it was huge for them to bow and stop it. All of our red zone defense has been great in the first four games. It’s huge. Keeping the points off the board is critical. “

From there, Burrow took over. The QB was magnificent, shooting darts down the middle towards Tyler Boyd, finding Ja’Marr Chase deep and repeatedly connecting with tight end CJ Uzomah. The QB completed 25 of 32 passes for 348 yards and two touchdowns. He’s set career highs in completion percentage (78.1%), yards per attempt (10.9) and day passer rating (132.8). It was the QB’s first 300+ yard game since Week 7 of the 2020 season and its most passing yards in a win.