Joe Burrow headlines one of the deepest offenses in the NFL as the Bengals unit has proven key in Cincinnati winning each of its last six games.
Burrow, however, acknowledged how Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots will present another challenge when Cincinnati takes the field at Gillette Stadium in Week 16.
“Well-coached,” Burrow told reporters, per the team. “A lot of times you watch film and you think you can take advantage of this guy or this guy, they don’t really have any of those. They’re all good players that understand their scheme, understand their leverages, and they got good rushers and a good rush plan. So it’ll be a challenge for us.”
With an extensive number of weapons at the skill positions — receivers Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd along with running backs Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine — the Bengals have the fifth-best scoring offense in the league. They rank second in passing touchdowns and fourth in both third-down offense and red-zone percentage.
“We know that they’re gonna have a good plan for us,” Burrow said of the Patriots. “And we’re gonna have to make adjustments in-game to what we’re seeing. Because we know that they’re going to have some game-plan stuff for us that we haven’t seen before. So it’s going to be a challenge for us as an offense to take those adjustments and run with them on the fly because we know that they’re gonna have some stuff we haven’t seen.
“You see it every week and on the film, they’re gonna have a plan for certain guys,” Burrow added, perhaps referencing the game-breaker Chase. “They’re gonna have a third-down plan that you probably haven’t seen. They’re gonna have a red-zone plan that you probably haven’t seen. You have to make adjustments.”
The Patriots defense currently sits in the top 10 as they rank sixth in yards allowed and seventh in points allowed. New England also ranks fourth in turnovers behind the second-most interceptions in the league.
However, it’s worth noting the Patriots tend to do their damage against bad offenses, save for a shutout against the Detroit Lions. They’ve allowed 103 and 121 yards of offense against Zach Wilson and Sam Ehlinger, respectively. But they’ve also allowed 443 yards of offense to Aaron Rodgers’ Packers, 394 to Lamar Jackson’s Ravens and 390 to Justin Fields’ Bears.
While Burrow lauded the Patriots defense and expressed the challenge the Bengals will face, the reality is New England faces just as much of an obstacle. And in what feels like a do-or-die spot, the 3.5-point home underdog Patriots will have to play much better against Burrow’s Bengals than they have against other top quarterbacks this season.
