Joe Burrow and Patrick Mahomes will renew their rivalry on Sunday when the Chiefs and Bengals clash in Week 2. The two have built a great head-to-head during the early stages of their careers and have played a litany of tight, big games against each other.
From those battles comes a mutual respect. Burrow shared his affection for the Chiefs’ star on Friday ahead of Sunday’s matchup in Kansas City.
“Pat is one of one,” Burrow said. “He’s really, really exceptional extending the play, throwing on the move, trying to buy that extra tick for his guys to get open. He really understands the game. It’s always a big challenge going up against him.”
The two teams have faced off five times in the last three seasons, with Burrow and the Bengals taking three of the meetings. They split playoff meetings in 2022 and 2023, with the winner reaching the Super Bowl each time.
The Chiefs got their 2024-25 campaign off to a good start, picking up an impressive win against the Baltimore Ravens 27-20 on opening night. On the contrary, the Bengals put out a dismal offensive performance in a shocking loss against the New England Patriots at home.
The Bengals have had an odd offseason and training camp, between Joe Burrow’s ominous recovery from wrist surgery, Ja’Marr Chase’s contract holdout and Tee Higgins’ preseason injury that kept him out of Week 1. All of that resulted in a disjointed outing on offense in Week 1.
It remains to be seen whether that subpar showing is cause for panic or just a bad day for the Bengals. After all, the Patriots’ defense is formidable, but the Chiefs may be even better on that side of the ball.
Kansas City’s defensive line should have a major advantage against a Bengals offensive line that is average at best. Chris Jones, George Karlaftis and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo dominated the Ravens up front last week, and it’s easy to see a similar scenario on Sunday. The Bengals don’t run the ball very well either, so it will be hard to keep those pass rushers from pinning their ears back and getting after Burrow in the pocket.
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It’s unclear whether this is wrist-related or not, but Burrow didn’t push the ball down the field at all against New England. The Bengals signal caller attempted just six passes past 10 yards, and completed three of them. Most of his work was done within five yards of the line of scrimmage as he repeatedly settled for check downs and conservative completions.
If he can’t create the explosive plays that made the Bengals so difficult to defend a few years ago, the Chiefs are going to dominate. They’re too good down-to-down to get dinked and dunked down the field all day on Sunday, so Burrow is going to have to start pushing it vertically to keep up.