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Speaker 6Now at McDonald's. Something truly special is happening right now with the Cincinnati Bengals, and Sunday the whole world got to see it in Madrid. 78,660 people packed the Santiago Bernabeu, and after the first 15 minutes, the Atlanta Falcons were the ones in front. Atlanta scored on its first drive and led 10-7 after one quarter. Then the Bengals scored 17 straight points in the second quarter and went to halftime up 24-10. It finished 34-17 and that's four straight wins and a 6-2 start. The best through eight games in the Zack Taylor era. But the final score hides a second story. Atlanta ran for 157 yards and not one Bengals defender sacked Michael Penix Jr. And the team coming to Cincinnati next Sunday night is Pittsburgh, also 6-2, and the only AFC North team to beat them this year. So is this offense special enough to carry them past the Steelers, or did Madrid just show Pittsburgh how to beat them? It starts with Joe Burrow, because last Sunday he was at least part of the problem. Against Tennessee, Burrow threw three interceptions and the Bengals needed overtime to win 43-36. In Madrid, the Bengals didn't turn it over once. Burrow went 24-29 for 271 yards. He threw five incompletions all day, and then he ran one in himself from the one yard line to open the second quarter. Joe Burrow now has a touchdown pass in eight straight games every game he has played this season. In Bengals records since 1999, that's not the longest. Nine streaks have run longer, and the longest is Burrow himself with 16 straight in 2022. That gives him 23 touchdown passes through eight games. A pace for 49 over the full season. His best season was 43 touchdown passes in 2024, already the most by any Bengals since 1999. The yardage is climbing with it. Over his first three games, Burrow averaged 248 passing yards a game, and over the last five it's 329. Zach Taylor said it after the game, "Joe is playing at an unbelievably high level right now, and it's difficult not to put the ball in his hands every play." His receivers knew it before kickoff. Higgins and Chase both said Burrow was throwing that pill far in warmups, and they were like, "He's feeling good today." When Burrow feels like that, everybody in the building knows where the ball is going. Jamar Chase. He caught 10 passes for 155 yards, his best game of the season. His old high was 141 yards set a week earlier against Tennessee. The big one came right after Atlanta scored first. A 47-yard deep ball touchdown. That's a big one. Chase said that when Joe saw AJ Terrell lined up on him, he got pretty excited. And then he struck the matador pose in the end zone because he wanted the Spanish crowd to yell ole. Remember where this season started. In week one against Tampa Bay, Chase had two catches for 12 yards. Over his first three games, he averaged 62 receiving yards a game, and over the last five it's 92. Tee Higgins only had 32 yards, and it didn't matter because he got both of his touchdowns inside the 10. On the season, Higgins actually leads the team. With 758 receiving yards, 111 more than Chase. And Burrow, Chase, and Higgins have now each scored a touchdown in back-to-back games. And before last week, a reporter noted, the three of them had never each scored in the same game. The only streak that ended belonged to Mike Gusecki, who had caught a touchdown in every game he played the season six straight. Since 1999, only AJ Green with nine and TJ Huchmanzada with eight have had longer runs for the Bengals. In Madrid, though, he caught two passes for 11 yards, and nobody really minded because the touchdowns just went somewhere else. But the best stretch of all came in the second quarter. Down 10-7, the Bengals scored on every drive of the first half. Atlanta scored zero points in the second quarter, while Cincinnati put up 17. One of those drives got stuck at the goal line, and of all people, it was Jesse Bates, the former Bengal, who stood Chase Brown up just short. Burrow walked it in on the very next play. On the day, they converted six of their touchdowns. In the red zone, they scored touchdowns on three of their four trips. And even the run game showed up, with Chase Brown breaking his two longest runs of the season, 19 yards and 16 yards. Then with 24 seconds left in the half, Evan McPherson drilled a 57-yard field goal. That extended his run of made field goals past 20 in a row, which reporters in Madrid called a team record and the longest active streak in the league. This offense has now scored 143 points in four games. The Bengals have won three games in four straight wins, and never fewer than 31 in any of them. Since the 39-34 loss at Buffalo last season, the Bengals are 7-0 when they score 30 or more. Barrett Carter, the linebacker who had the only interception of the game, put it best, "Watching our offense is the greatest show on earth." If you've been riding this run with us, hit that subscribe button. We're at 6,030 subscribers, it's completely free, and it's how you'll catch every Bengals video before Sunday night. But there's a reason this team looks so loose. This was Burrow's first regular season game outside the United States and the whole week turned into something bigger than a road game. Burrow called it a huge bonding experience and said seeing the city get that excited for the Bengals was a pleasant surprise. Higgins gave credit to the fans who made the trip. We travel, they show up and show out every single game. Zach Taylor gave the game ball to Jeff Brickner, the team's travel secretary, the man who got everyone to Spain and back. He's one of the few Bengals who can see each other right now, and you can see it on the field. But liking each other doesn't fix what happened when Atlanta handed the ball to Bajon Robinson. 34-17 looks like a blowout, but underneath it, Atlanta moved the ball on the ground almost wherever it wanted. The Falcons ran 24 times for 157 yards. That's 6.5 yards a carry, more than the Bengals owned 5.1 on the same 24 carries. Bajon Robinson ran for 100 yards on just 19 carries, his one yard touchdown in the third quarter. Atlanta made it a one score game again at 24-17. Michael Penix Jr. isn't known as a runner, and he still picked up 50 yards on 3 runs, the longest for 23. This was supposed to be a strength. Going into the game, the Bengals ranked 6th in the NFL in opponent rush success rate. It's also two shaky weeks in a row because Tennessee scored 36 points on this defense last Sunday, the most it has allowed all season. They did it without safety, Kyle Duggar, who missed the game with a left quad injury. ESPN's injury listing has his return date as November 15th, the night of the Pittsburgh game, and this defense needs him back. The run defense bent, and up front, nobody got to the quarterback. The Bengals sacked Penix zero times. Their defenders made one tackle for a loss all game from Dax Hill. Penix only threw for 162 yards, so the coverage held up, he just never had to feel anybody in his face. And part of that is who's missing. I mean, Cassius Howell went on IR. On November 3rd, after surgery on his right wrist. The special teams gave away yards too. Atlanta returned seven kickoffs for 185 yards. Kahlil Herbert took six of them for 157 yards with a long of 39. Atlanta also beat itself with 12 penalties for 88 yards, double the Bengals' six. And this is a 3-6 team that came to Madrid off a 16-0 loss in Tampa. Now none of that takes away from the win, but Pittsburgh is not going to handle it. them 12 penalties and the Bengals own second half gave the Steelers something to study as well. After 24 points in the first half, the Bengals scored 10 in the second. Atlanta came out at halftime and pulled within a score, and for a stretch of the third quarter, this was a real game again. On the opening drive of the second half, Burrow missed on a third and eight, what reporters called was a rare bad throw, and Atlanta's defense got off the field with a three and out. He also took two sacks, both in the fourth quarter from LaKale London and Zach Harrison. Higgins answered with his eight-yard touchdown late in the third quarter, and the defense held Atlanta scoreless after that. The fourth quarter was one field goal, a 43-yarder for McPherson, and a lot of clock. Against Atlanta, a two-score lead in a quiet fourth quarter is fine. Against Pittsburgh in a one-score game, that's how you fall behind in the division. Pittsburgh and Cincinnati are tied on top of the AFC North at 6-2. The Steelers have the edge for now because they beat the Bengals 30-27 in Pittsburgh on September 27. That's one of only two losses so far this season. The rematch is Sunday night football, November 15 at 820 Eastern in Cincinnati. Go out and win it. The season series is split at one game each with the Bengals alone in first place at 7-2. So we know it's huge, and a win would make it five straight, a regular season streak only four Bengals teams have reached since 1999. And the offense is what's truly special. Zero turnovers every first half drive, you gotta score. But the worry on the other hand, 157 on the ground, against a 3-6 team, and Tennessee put up 36. And I do think Kyle Duggar coming back would help, so watch the injury report this week. So I think that Burrow does win a shootout this week, but the run defense decides if it becomes one. So yes, something special is happening in Cincinnati, and on Sunday night, we're gonna find out if it's special enough to take first place in the AFC North. Who do you think decides the game on Sunday night? Joe Burrow in the offense or the Bengals run defense? Let me know in the comments below. And I'll see you guys next time. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you all week before kickoff.
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