Joe Burrow did not complete a touchdown pass in the first half in Baltimore on Sunday. He threw four after the break, and the Bengals turned a 13-0 halftime deficit into a 35-13 win over the Ravens that sent the quarterback to the podium with an unusually blunt grade for himself.
Asked how he had played, Burrow said he wanted to watch the film before going deeper, but he did not hide what he felt about the final two quarters, calling himself “pretty lights out” in that stretch. The numbers backed him up: 16 completions on 18 throws for 249 yards and all four touchdowns after halftime, on the way to 22 of 30 for 292 yards and no turnovers for the game.
Joe Burrow speaks to the media following the Week 7 WIN against the Baltimore Ravens. https://t.co/WPZmBzBTlX
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) October 25, 2026
What changed at halftime
Burrow gave part of the credit to a teammate. He said Ja’Marr Chase spoke up in the locker room and got on the group, and that the message lit a fire, but he was quick to add that the comeback came down to running the plays well rather than to any speech. In his telling, the staff went back to the offense’s most basic calls, the line gave him time, and the plan became simple: get the ball to Chase and Tee Higgins as often as possible.
That is close to how the second half unfolded. Cincinnati scored on all five of its possessions after the break. Burrow found Mike Gesicki from 6 yards to finish the opening drive, then hit Higgins from 13 yards for a lead the Bengals never gave back. Samaje Perine ran in from the 1 at the end of an 88-yard march, Chase caught a 2-yard score and Drew Sample added a 16-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Higgins did all of his damage after halftime, finishing with six catches for 148 yards and passing 6,000 career receiving yards. Chase had five catches for 62 yards and his touchdown, and Gesicki has now scored in four straight games.
The defense held up its end, shutting out Baltimore over the final 30 minutes with four sacks, two of them by Boye Mafe. Tyler Huntley, starting again with Lamar Jackson out for a third straight week, threw for 215 yards in the first half alone, but the Ravens did not score again.
Burrow framed the afternoon as a statement of identity more than a comeback. “We know who we are. We know who we have to be,” he said, adding that the job was to let the team’s best players make the plays that decide games.
Where Burrow’s season stands
The four scoring throws give Burrow 15 touchdown passes through six games, his best total at this point of any season in his career. He is the only quarterback this season with four touchdown passes in a single second half, and Cincinnati became the 10th team in league history to be shut out in the first half and score at least 35 points in the second.
The win lifts the Bengals to 4-2 and gives them their first AFC North victory of the season, while Baltimore drops to 4-3 after a second straight division loss. The score and drive-by-drive details are in the Game Center.
What comes next
Cincinnati returns home to Paycor Stadium to host the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, November 1, at 1:00 p.m. EST. The Ravens visit the Buffalo Bills at the same time.
No published comments yet. Start the conversation.