Joe Burrow was seen throwing something while yelling in the direction of a teammate on the sideline during Sunday's game between the Bengals and Raiders. At that moment in the game, Burrow's Bengals were ahead 31-10 and Burrow had already thrown four of his eventual five touchdown passes in would be a 41-24 win.
Burrow was asked about that moment following what was a big win for the Bengals, who climbed back to a 4-5 record following a 1-4 start. A big reason for Cincinnati's turnaround has been the play of Burrow, who has already thrown 20 touchdown passes this year against just four interceptions.
"If we don't score a touchdown on a drive, I'm not going to be very happy for the rest of the year," Burrow said. "I think that's our standard. We have to play the game that way. We have to expect that out of ourselves and live up to that."
Cincinnati was about to punt for the first time when Burrow vented his frustration on the sideline. It's clear that Burrow expects a lot of himself and a Bengals offense that on Sunday had a winning performance for the first time this season in a game that didn't include wideout Tee Higgins, who was inactive with an injury.
With Higgins and running back Zack Moss out with injuries and rookie wideout Jermaine Burton a healthy scratch, Burrow (who also didn't have injured starting left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. on Sunday) looked more to tight end Mike Gesicki, who caught five passes for 100 yards in two touchdowns in what was easily his most productive game as a Bengal to this point. Running back Chase Brown also picked up the slack. The second-year pro had his first career 100-yard rushing performance in addition to his 37 yards and a score on five receptions.
Defensively, Cincinnati's much-maligned defense held the Raiders to just 217 yards. Veteran pass rusher Trey Hendrickson was a one-man wrecking crew as he recorded four of Cincinnati's five sacks.
"It was a good win," Burrow said of Cincinnati's first home victory of the season. "It was nice to get one at home. Our great players stepped up big time today. Should have been way cleaner. It was disappointing the way we finished the game, but a good win."
As you can see, Burrow wasn't overly joyous following Sunday's win, largely because of Cincinnati's current situation from a record standpoint. While they've played much better over the past month, the 1-4 start has left the Bengals little margin for error. That has created a hyper-focused quarterback in Burrow, who following last week's loss said that the Bengals going 7-2 from here on out was "doable."
Burrow was asked what the Bengals can take out of Sunday's convincing win moving forward.
"I don't know. We'll find out," he said. "I've got confidence in the coaches and the players in that locker room. I've got confidence in the work that we put in. We've just got to continue to stack day, stack weeks, get better every day."
Cincinnati has another huge test on Thursday night when it travels to Baltimore to face a Ravens team that edged them in a 41-38 OT thriller back in Week 5. The Ravens, who defeated the Bengals at home on Thursday night this time last year, improved to 6-3 following Sunday's blowout win over the Denver Broncos.
Speaking of that game, Burrow had the Ravens in mind when he told his teammates not to celebrate the win over the Raiders on Sunday. There is more work to be done.