Trey Hendrickson claimed two of six total sacks on Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, while Ja'Marr Chase makes 12 catches for 141 yards as the Cincinnati Bengals pick up their first win of the season with a 19-16 victory; Joe Burrow plays despite recent calf problem.
Tuesday 26 September 2023 09:16, UK
Joe Burrow shook off a lingering calf injury to throw for 259 yards as the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Los Angeles Rams 19-16 on Monday night to clinch their first win of the season.
Joe Mixon's 14-yard touchdown run in the third quarter gave the reigning AFC North champs their first lead of the year.
Logan Wilson picked off Los Angeles quarterback Matthew Stafford twice while the Bengals sacked him six times, two of which came courtesy of Trey Hendrickson.
Stafford threw a one-yard scoring pass to Tutu Atwell with just over a minute left in the game, and the PAT got the Rams to within three points, but Mitchell Wilcox fell on the ensuing onside kick to seal the win for the Bengals (1-2).
The Rams finished 1-4 in the red zone while converting just one of 11 third downs to the Bengals' 1-1 and five of 17, respectively.
Burrow seemed to get better as the game went on and completed passes to nine different receivers.
It wasn't clear until just before the game whether Burrow would play. The star quarterback has been dealing with a calf injury but was a full participant in warmups without any obvious discomfort and went out for the Bengals' first offensive series.
The injury occurred early in training camp, and he aggravated it late in the Bengals' loss to Baltimore last week. Burrow returned to practice on Thursday on a limited basis, and on Saturday the team listed him as questionable.
Los Angeles Rams
Cincinnati Bengals
Cincinnati's Ja'Marr Chase had 12 catches for 141 yards, including a 43-yarder during a third-quarter drive that led to the third of four field goals in the game by Evan McPherson.
The Cincinnati defense was outstanding. Stafford was sacked twice by defensive end Hendrickson, and Wilson intercepted him once in each half.
Stafford finished 18 for 39 for 269 yards as the Rams slipped to 1-2.
Mixon was a workhorse again, carrying 19 times for 65 yards. On Cincinnati's first possession of the second half, he went over the left tackle and found a seam to score from 14 yards out, his first touchdown of the season, to cap a 10-play, 75-yard drive.
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow: "I pride myself on my availability. There is risk to go out there and potentially reinjure it. But there's also risk to go out there and be 0-3."
Bengals receiver Ja'Marr Chase: "I didn't want him to play. It just shows that Joe is hard-headed. But he's a football player. It takes a lot to be a quarterback and also be injured. We needed to get this win. I was just being there for Joe. All I could do is try to make Joe look good."
Rams head coach Sean McVay: "It did feel like we were in striking distance. I thought the defense kept us in the game the whole night, and I thought it was really unfortunate, especially early on where we had to settle for field goals where we had some of the looks and some of the opportunities to be able to execute, and we just weren't able to get it done."
The Rams (1-2) head on the road to face the Indianapolis Colts (2-1) on Sunday, while the Bengals (1-2) are at Tennessee to take on the Titans (1-2).
Week Four in the NFL begins on Thursday night when the Detroit Lions visit the Green Bay Packers - live on Sky Sports NFL from 1.15am in the early hours of Friday morning.
