Patrick Mahomes proves he is indestructible while Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins light up Madrid - NFL Sunday Review

Want to grow the NFL overseas? Send the stars. The superstars. The Joe Burrows’. The Ja’Marr Chases’. The Tee Higgins’. Let them flourish like superstars, and watch new host countries turn to disciples.

Thousands of Spanish fans will have left the Bernabeu on Sunday with either a strengthened or a new-found connection to the Bengals, who delivered about as good a product as you are likely to see in an international game as they beat the Atlanta Falcons 34-17 on the league’s return to Madrid.

A winning product. A Super Bowl-contending product. The product of a three-headed monster capable of taking a sledgehammer to any defense in football, and one built to thrive amid the fiercest of slugfests.

Find yourself in a shoot-out with these Bengals and you are likely to come out second best. Particularly against this version of Burrow.

There is a growing argument this version is flirting with the best version of Burrow in his NFL career as he seeks to fulfil his own rallying cry for Championship urgency this past offseason.

He was insistent “this is it” as far as Cincinnati’s Super Bowl quest was concerned, long-tired of slow starts and injury setbacks that have hindered their mission to get back to the ‘Big Dance’, where they fell short against the Los Angeles Rams four years ago.

Burrow was near-flawless on European soil as he threw for 271 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for another himself, which he capped by imitating a Neymar celebration. Whether the Brazilian icon played for Real or not, the locals enjoyed it, so too his admiration for the city’s museum scene this week.

“I always whisper in his ear to be legendary. That’s who he is and that’s what he does,” Bengals defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence told Sky Sports NFL.

“He’s the greatest. We keep calling him a killer – he goes out there with that look in his eye and does what he’s supposed to do and puts point on the board.”

Head coach Zac Taylor admitted after the game the difficulty in resisting temptation to make every play a passing play such has been Burrow’s dominance this season. As much was evident in his reply to Atlanta’s opening touchdown when he launched deep to Chase for the 47-yard touchdown that would open the floodgates for Cincinnati’s command.

“When I saw that first touchdown I was like ‘uh oh’, it was a snowball effect,” said Higgins after the game.

It represented their 19th touchdown connection of at least 40 yards to tie Joe Montana and Jerry Rice for the third-most by a quarterback-receiver duo since 1980, behind only Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison (21) and Steve Young and Rice (20).

It is unfair. It is rude. It should be illegal to have a Chase-Higgins pairing at the disposal of a full-flow Burrow; together they are borderline unstoppable. There was a moment during Higgins’ second touchdown of the game when both myself and a colleague pointed towards Chase, who had also wriggled free in the end zone to give Burrow a dream pick-your-poison scenario.

There are defensive coordinators across the NFL that might relate to Higgins’ ‘uh oh’ sentiment upon a Burrow-Chase union. It tends to spell trouble, and there tends to be zero remedies.

The celebration of choice on Chase’s touchdown was a matador display as Higgins played the role of charging bull, much to the delight of the Bernabeu crowd. The game’s chief protagonists were winning both on the football field but also in the realm of international fandom.

“The fans liked it, ‘we did it and I heard them say ‘Oleeee’,” Higgins said.

There are plenty more ‘Oles’ to follow this season for an offensive trio playing at a different level to most in the league right now. Discussion surrounding the Bengals’ Super Bowl aspirations has usually come back to question marks over their defense, which is why their offseason trade for Dexter Lawrence felt like a potential needle-moving moment.

The reality, though, is that defensive improvement never really needed to be needle-moving or transformative, but instead a meaningful step forward. That is courtesy of a luxury to which few can attest in a trio of Burrow, Chase and Higgins.

Higgins is automatic with one of the safest pairs of suction hands in football and the catch radius to defy any angle or the tightest of man coverage. Chase is a demon with the ball in his hands and a single high safeties worst nightmare come true. So long as that three-headed monster remains intact, the Bengals can challenge for the Super Bowl.

What we learned

Patrick Mahomes is seemingly indestructible. Robert Saleh – the now Tennessee Titans head coach – once said of the Kansas City Chiefs QB: “Don’t be fooled by his little old man jog”.
The three-time Super Bowl winner played through a high ankle sprain in leading KC back from a double-digit deficit to beat the Philadelphia Eagles to one of those titles, while he also overcame turf toe to reach another Super Bowl (which they would lose to Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers).
When it looks like this man might be done, he is not. And that was very much the case again on Sunday when Mahomes’ throwing arm appeared to be badly injured on a strip-sack by the New York Jets’ David Bailey just before half-time – the Chiefs only leading 14-12 at the time.
There were some hugely concerned faces on the sideline, none more so than the man himself, as well as tight end buddy Travis Kelce. But, incredibly, after a bit of treatment, No 15 was ready to go again, leading his team on a second-half tear to secure a comfortable 23-point victory in the end.

The New York Giants are seemingly eyeing a trade for Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor, with Big Blue head coach John Harbaugh saying “those conversations are taking place”.
Fox Sports reported on Sunday morning that the Giants had already offered the Colts second and fifth-round draft picks for Taylor, which has not yet got the deal done.
But the Giants, currently in the driver’s seat in the NFC East, are keen to get a deal done with Cam Skattebo (hamstring) missing Sunday’s win over the Philadelphia Eagles, Tyrone Tracy Jr (hamstring) on injured reserve and Devin Singletary returning only 31 yards on 21 carries in Philly.
Taylor, meanwhile, acknowledged he might have played his last game in Indy. “This place helped shape me into the man I am today, so I’m very grateful,” Taylor said after their home loss to the Dallas Cowboys. “If it is [my last game], I’m very grateful for the city of Indianapolis.”
The trade deadline is on Tuesday November 10.

Overreaction or reality?

The Bengals do not need to trade for Jonathan Taylor. ‘Need’ is a strong word, and there are two sides to the equation when it comes to a potential move for a star running back. Cincinnati want the ball in the hands of their quarterback as much as humanly possible – would it be right and would it be wise to add a centre-piece running back to a scheme that is not only built but functions on shot-gun aerial bombardment?

The other side is the Thanos ‘final Infinity Stone’ notion to pairing Taylor with Burrow, Chase and Higgins, which becomes every bit the Avengers of NFL offenses and the kind capable of steamrolling its way to a Super Bowl appearance. Taylor is a field-flipper and an immediate difference-maker – but how different do you really want this offense to look?

Chase Brown barely gets a sniff in comparison to other backs around the league; when the Bengals did call on his number in Madrid he helped pave the way for Higgins’ second touchdown catch. Sure, it would be box office. But to say the Bengals need him would be a disservice to just how good their prized trio are.

Winners and losers

Winners:

Myles Garrett: A warm welcome back to the Rams for Mr Myles Garrett. Los Angeles’ 20-13 road win over the Washington Commanders has them over .500 for the first time in a season which they were expected to dominate – in large part due to their blockbuster offseason addition of the two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, who has been missing due to injury since their season opener.

But he is back, and with a vengeance, as he returned three sacks against the Commanders, the first of which being a forced fumble. Finally paired with three-time DPOY Aaron Donald on the defensive line, the Rams having won three straight, maybe a Super Bowl run could still be on the cards?

Christian Watson and Matthew Golden: The Green Bay Packers are explosive on offense! And the great beneficiaries of Jordan Love continuing to air it out – and coach Matt LaFleur laying the table for him to do so – are receivers Christian Watson and Matthew Golden.

Watson came down with 171 yards and a score off seven catches, while Golden 164 off 10 grabs and too found the end zone – career highs for both – as Green Bay put up 45 points on a Pats defense that practically carried them through the playoffs and to the Super Bowl last season. Don’t sleep on the Packers.

Losers:

The Chargers gonna keep Chargering. If you thought it could not get any worse for head coach Jim Harbaugh, OC Mike McDaniel, QB Justin Herbert and the still-winless Chargers, you would be wrong!

This Los Angeles offense stinks! Do not let a couple of fourth-quarter, garbage-time touchdowns fool you. The Chargers were trailing 38-9 prior, notching three field goals to go with four punts, an interception, turnover on downs and fumble from their other offensive series.

They are now 0-8 on a truly dismal season.

Dan Quinn: In a Washington Commanders season defined by late offensive blunders or clock mismanagement, their head coach might well have dropped the ball once more to potentially signal curtains for him in the country’s capital.

Down seven, on the final play of their loss to the Los Angeles Rams – set up just beyond their opponents’ 30-yard line – the Commanders opted to go for a short pass followed by a couple of lame attempts at laterals, rather than take a shot at the end zone.

After the game, Quinn admitted he was “not happy with the execution of that play”.

Well, file it alongside Jayden Daniels’ sack in the dying seconds of overtime as their Week Five game against the New York Giants ended in a tie, as well as Quinn seeming to forget what down it was a week later in the loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

Player of the Weekend – Arvell Reese, LB, New York Giants

The Philadelphia Eagles are there to be preyed on at the moment, and the New York Giants willingly obliged. Linebacker Arvell Reese in particular feasted to bolster his Defensive Rookie of the Year campaign, logging three sacks, 12 tackles, three tackles for loss, a forced fumble, four pressures and three quarterback hits to torment Eagles back-up quarterback Joe Milton in a 19-11 victory. His 2.29 seconds to sack marked the fastest time in the NFL this season, according to Next Gen Stats. The Giants have a superstar stalwart on their hands.

Game of the Weekend

Sean Payton’s Denver Broncos only know how to win close games. In fact, Sunday’s 26-21 victory over the Carolina Panthers means they have now won 16 straight one-score games.

The Broncos survived late when Nik Bonitto strip-sacked Bryce Young and recovered the loose fumble with 1.24 remaining, before Bo Nix clinched the win with a quarterback sneak on third down.

It was what has become typical late Broncos drama. Denver had trailed by one point entering the fourth quarter, meaning it would become their fifth victory of the year after trailing in the fourth. For a large part of the game Young had been sizzling, only to be hit by Broncos defiance.

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