Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh did not seem pleased that the Cincinnati Bengals kept their foot on the gas late in Sunday’s game, but don’t expect to hear any apologies from Joe Burrow.
The Bengals continued to throw the ball late in the fourth quarter of their 41-21 win. Burrow ended up with 525 yards passing, and 52 of them came on a deep connection late in the game. That led to some questions about whether Cincinnati violated so-called unwritten rules. Burrow told Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk that he has “no sympathy” for his divisional rival.
“This is the NFL,” Burrow said. “This isn’t peewee, this isn’t high school where you go out and run up the score. You play until the final whistle. I don’t care what the score is. We’ve been in spots where teams go out and do that to us. They did it to us last year. No sympathy from me.”
The Ravens beat the Bengals 27-3 and 38-3 in their two meetings last year. Even if they weren’t calling deep pass plays late in the fourth quarter, they probably weren’t making a conscious effort to not embarrass their AFC North foe.
Burrow also admitted after the game that he had added motivation from some comments Ravens defensive coordinator Wink Martindale made about him. Cincinnati’s coaching staff was likely aware of those as well. Head coach Zac Taylor said he intentionally wanted to teach his players a lesson about not letting up down the stretch.
Harbaugh seemed irritated in his postgame handshake with Taylor (video here). Of course, this is the same Harbaugh who infuriated an opposing coach by blatantly chasing a record earlier this season.
Burrow is right — this is the NFL. Teams are under no obligation to let up on their opponents, who are also professionals making millions of dollars. The Ravens have nothing to complain about except their defense’s inability to stop anything.
Photo: Sam Greene via Imagn Content Services, LLC
