One was ludicrous, the other ridiculous. One was unconscious, the other uncanny. One was off the charts, the other was out of this world.
Take your pick because Joe Lee Burrow and Lamar Demeatrice Jackson Jr. were all of these things during Sunday's ping-pong match of wits. It ended when Jackson's defending AFC North champs barely held serve in a surreal overtime, where there were more dropped snaps (two) than field goals (Justin Tucker's chip-shot for the win) in a 41-38 verdict that contained the fifth-most combined points in the history of the building.
Burrow threw a career-high five touchdowns while sifting 77% of his 39 passes for 392 yards and a blistering 137 passer rating. Jackson matched it in vintage Lamarian fashion, pitching for 348 yards, running for 55 more, and using those legs to extend many of the 10 third-down conversions on the way to his own glittering 119.9 rating in the face of Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo’s stepped-up blitz packages.
Burrow-Jackson. Welcome to the Ali-Frazier of the AFC North.
"They're always going to be epic. Instant classics," said Sam Hubbard, the Bengals defensive end who spent the day stalking Jackson with a sack, one other play for a loss and seven other tackles "We've won a fair amount. They've won a fair amount. They're an incredible team and we're going to see them again for sure. It's expected. Either we make the play or they make the play. Today they made the play. That's what happens when you have two MVP-caliber quarterbacks."
Burrow had declared last week how he had to be "damn near perfect," to beat the Ravens, so he went out and at one point hit 14 straight passes, converted seven straight third downs and needed only two of the three timeouts to conjure up a 79-yard, 25-second touchdown drive when he got the ball with 34 seconds left in the first half.
Thanks to 58 yards on the last two plays to his go-to, three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase, the last one a 41-yard dime with 15 seconds left for the long touchdown strike the Ravens were taking away.
Burrow took a hellacious shot from Ravens Pro Bowl edge rusher Nnamdi Madubuike as he waited for Chase to clear a deep post. Chase lined up in the middle of Tee Higgins and Andrei Iosivas in a bunch formation to the wide left and found himself one-on-one when Iosivas' drag route from the inside pulled the coverage. Burrow led Chase to the right pylon, and he ran it down like a center-fielder in the gap.
"I got the safety to turn his hips one way and ran a post route," Chase said. "We got the right formation to get that coverage."
That gave the Bengals the lead for the first time. In the second half, Jackson, the savvy, seasoned version of Ali bouncing off the ropes and improvising a win no matter what it looked like, came back from three 10-point deficits in the second half.
If Burrow took his shots, so did Jackson.
The utter exasperation that crossed Hubbard's face with exhaustion after the last of Jackson's four touchdown passes is going to be the Mona Lisa shot everyone remembers from this game.
With 5:30 left in regulation and the Ravens trailing, 38-28, Jackson dropped a shotgun snap on a second-down play from the Bengals 6. He scooped it up and danced to his right edge and, well, let Hubbard explain it.
"There's nobody in the world that moves like him. A two-time MVP in the league," Hubbard said. "I chased him down. I'm wiping down his stiff arm. He's stiff-arming me in the face. Germaine (Pratt) is coming to hit him. He launches the ball across the field to somebody. How do you make that up? "
That somebody was Isaiah Likely, one of the three-headed monsters the Ravens have created in the basement at tight end. Likely crossed the back line of the end zone waving his arms. Just as Hubbard was about to wrap him up for his second sack of the day, Jackson jolted Hubbard's head back with his arm to get him off him, and just before Jackson stepped out of bounds, Pratt converged on him.
"Unbelievable. I was going to try and pull him down on the horse collar, then I realized we were out of the pocket and it was going to be a penalty," Hubbard said. "He stiff-arms the face mask. Germaine hits him and somehow he ends up with a touchdown. He doesn't look as strong as he is. He's one of the strongest."
Burrow, hovering around perfection much of the day with a career-best 150 passer rating until that ended with an interception with 3:01 left in regulation, was watching, too. He knew what he was in for.
"I knew what it was going to take," Burrow said. "By no means did I think we had the game won, that's for sure. I was just letting all the guys know that we going to have to do it again."
No quarterback on the planet is hotter than Burrow after he dissected the Ravens on 30 of 39 passing. He's on pace to set personal records of 41 touchdown passes and 4,658 yards. His 72.2% completion percentage would be the third-best of all-time, trailing the two 74% seasons of his idol Drew Brees.
The Bengals have racked up 140 points this season, their fourth-highest of all-time in their first five games. At no time in his run here have the Bengals racked up 33, 34, and 38 points in consecutive games like they just did, and Burrow emerged from it all with a 1-2 record and some stark quotes.
"We're going to have to do more. Whatever it takes to win. So far, we haven't done enough in three out of four games. I'll put that on me. (It's) on us to go and finish it when we get our opportunities to," Burrow said. "We're not a championship-level team right now. We're not. I like to think that we'll come back and improve throughout the season to get to that point, but right now we're not, and we have to get better."
That was hard to process after what took place Sunday. If that wasn't the best, what is?
"I'm just sick for Joe Burrow," said Bengals left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. "Here's a guy who comes in and works his ass off every day with attention to detail. This is extremely disappointing not to close that one out."
Brown agreed with the hyperbole. The football equivalent of war.
"It was a war. That's the AFC North," Brown said. "It always comes down to that last possession, that last second, and making the most of it."
When the Bengals made their Super Bowl run three years ago, Burrow lit the Ravens for 416 and 525 yards, and Chase had a combined 326 yards, one on an 82-yard-now-you-see-him-now-you-don't-catch-and-run out of a little slant.
Burrow had a 70-yard touchdown to Chase Sunday on a pass even shorter than that when he flipped a screen against the blitz to Chase on the perimeter. Chase split the blocks of tight ends Erick All Jr. and Drew Sample and flat ran away from Pro Bowl linebacker Roquan Smith.
"They kind of split us in there in the fire zone (and) made a great play with Chase," said Ravens head coach John Harbaugh. "A great player making a great play. That was a quick one. We went down and scored in a couple of minutes on each drive. It was just a shootout. It was just a flat-out shootout in the second half."
Burrow senses his offense is playing like it did in 2021.
"That was one of those games where we were making plays. Guys on the outside were making plays, we're breaking tackles and making runs after the catch," Burrow said. "But like I said, it was hard out there. Those guys make it really tough. They're a tough, physical, good rush. They understand what they're doing in the secondary. They're matching coverages. So, at the end of the day, we made plays, but they made several plays as well."
Take the word of Brown, who has played with both Burrow and Jackson.
"It's crazy," Brown said. "This is obviously going to be a timeless rivalry. Especially with it being divisional. Everything at stake. It's really cool to sit on the sidelines and watch 8 and be out here with 9. It's a lot of fun."
Burrow's one mistake, Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey's interception on a one-on-one slant to Chase with three minutes left in regulation, became debated in the postgame. Chase said he ran a lousy route, or something like that. Burrow said it was simply a great play.
A great play on a day of great plays.
"By no means was it perfect," Burrow said. "That's always what I'm striving for. My statement rang true today. Perfect was what was needed, and that's not what we did."
But it damn near was.
