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Bengals DeskThe TapeGame center →

Joe Burrow throws three touchdowns on 29 attempts as Bengals beat Falcons 34-17

A 17-0 second quarter turned a 10-7 deficit into a 24-10 halftime lead, and the Bengals' passing tree did most of the work.

Joe BurrowThe TapeW 34–17atFALCONSQBJoe Burrow
By Bengals Desk, Pigskin NightlyNov 8, 2:10 PM ET3 min read

The deciding stretch

The second quarter decided this one. Atlanta led 10-7 after fifteen minutes. Cincinnati then outscored the Falcons 17-0 and went to the locker room up 24-10.

The Bengals never gave that lead back. Atlanta answered with a touchdown in the third quarter to make it 31-17, then went scoreless in the fourth while Cincinnati added a field goal. Over the full game the Bengals had six scoring drives on nine possessions, four of them touchdowns. The Falcons had nine possessions of their own and scored on three.

The longest drive of the day was Cincinnati's: 10 plays, 88 yards, touchdown. The Bengals also went 3-for-3 in the red zone. Atlanta was 2-for-4.

The swing

The biggest single swing for Cincinnati came early. With 8:49 left in the first quarter, Joe Burrow threw deep right from the shotgun to J.Chase for a 47-yard touchdown. That play moved the Bengals' win probability by 9 points, the largest swing of the game.

Atlanta's best counters were on the ground, and both came in the first quarter. M.Penix scrambled left for 23 yards and cost Cincinnati 6 points of win probability. B.Robinson's 21-yard run off left end cost another 4. The Falcons finished with 157 rushing yards at 6.5 a carry, against 124 yards at 5.4 for the Bengals.

They could not turn that into a lead. Atlanta was flagged 12 times for 88 yards, to Cincinnati's 6 for 43. One of those flags wiped out a Penix scramble to the CIN 1 when M.Bergeron was called for offensive holding. The penalty gave Cincinnati 4 points of win probability. The Falcons also lost a turnover, and the Bengals had none.

Who moved the needle

Burrow finished 24-of-29 for 271 yards and three touchdowns, with no interceptions and a passer rating of 140.1. The Bengals averaged 8.5 yards per pass play. Atlanta averaged 5.2.

The target tree was lopsided in a useful way. J.Chase drew 12 of those 29 throws and turned them into 10 catches for 155 yards and a touchdown. Tee Higgins saw only 6 targets, caught 5 for 32 yards, and scored twice. His longest catch was 8 yards, so he worked the short end of the field and kept finding the end zone.

Dohnte Meyers had 3 targets and 2 catches for 47 yards, including a 42-yarder. He also carried once for 16 yards. Chase Brown caught all 3 of his targets for 18 yards. He also ran 9 times for 57 yards, 6.3 a carry. Samaje Perine added 43 yards on 11 carries.

Pass protection held up well enough. Burrow was sacked twice for 6 yards, while Atlanta's quarterback was never sacked. Cincinnati converted 6 of 10 third downs and Atlanta converted 5 of 10, so the gap was in what each team did with its first and second downs.

On defense, Barrett Carter and Bryan Cook each had 10 total tackles. Demetrius Knight Jr. had 8. Carter and Josh Newton each broke up a pass.

Where it leaves them

Cincinnati is 6-2 with a four-game winning streak and a point differential of plus 65, on 240 points scored and 175 allowed. The Bengals are 4-1 on the road. They hold the fifth seed in the conference.

They also sit first in the AFC North, level with Pittsburgh at 6-2. Cleveland is 5-3 and Baltimore is 4-5.

The Steelers are next. Cincinnati hosts Pittsburgh in Week 10 on Sunday, Nov. 15, at 8:20 PM ET on NBC. The game will show whether J.Chase's 12 targets stay the center of the passing tree and whether Burrow's protection holds against a division opponent.

How this was reported. Every number in this piece comes from the play-by-play, drive, injury and snap data Pigskin Nightly collects for every game. EPA (expected points added) is from the open nflverse model. We do not use anonymous sources or invent quotes. Read how we write; spotted an error? Tell us and we will correct it in the open.