Usually, after a home game, Joe Burrow briskly departs the locker room to head upstairs and greet family and friends.

Not this Sunday. Not after the Ravens handed him his first NFL shutout. He lingered long enough that rookie linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr. found himself with Burrow in one of the recovery rooms.

"Joe told me that we have to rub that off us, and that's just what it is," Knight said. "Don't hang your hat on it. Study it. Learn it, then you have to flush it."

On a day when the two quarterbacks who together engineered the most thrilling conference championship games of the 2020s were eliminated from the playoffs, Patrick Mahomes nursed a torn ACL and Burrow went about healing 2025 to get it ready for 2026.

His teammates had his back. Like his oldest mate and one of his best friends.

"He just wants to be great. I have to respect that from him. I'm not going to let him kill himself mentally by just one game," said All-Pro wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase, who fought frustration with 10 catches for 132 yards.

"I've known Joe for a long time. I know what he's capable of. I know when he's off, I know when he's on, and I need to find a way to help him if he's off," said the NFL's best player. "I've got to be there for him and encourage him. You know what I'm saying? Just do what I can for him."

After Burrow told his teammates and coaches behind closed doors that this one was on him, he went out and told the microphones.

"I want everything on my plate. That's the position I want to be in. I feel confident in all those guys in the locker room," said Burrow, endorsing his coaches and the organization. "I know how hard people work at it, and we have the right people. It starts with players playing better, and today it was me."

It was, indeed, one of those days that made people suddenly forget that Burrow was coming off two games he had generated 66 points on the road against two playoff contenders. Not to mention in the last two months that the Bengals offense had racked up the league's second most passing touchdowns, third most passing yards and fifth most points.

"I feel very confident how I play. Obviously today, in my opinion, is an outlier. I think I've been consistently great for years and years and years," reminded Burrow, who goes to Miami as the sport's all-time leading completion percentage leader.

A mere 17 days after Burrow throttled the Ravens in his storybook comeback with two third-down laser touchdowns, Baltimore got him back with a tweaked look up front that sent the Bengals to a 3-for-15 day on third down. (That was after they had clicked on 18 of 31 in the last two games.) The new spacing from the Ravens' interchangeable front seven was apparently an effort to slow down the Bengals' effective double teams in the run game and force hesitation in pass protection with various players in various spots.

"They were getting good pressure. Some uncharacteristic mental mistakes on my end, and some unforced errors," Burrow said. "They blitzed less. Their front four were able to get a little more pressure, so credit to them."

One of those days where the Ravens, it seemed, magnified every missed opportunity. Where inches turned into miles.

A snap after Chase dropped a first down in the red zone on the first drive, Burrow took a sack out of field-goal range when he said he made the wrong protection call.

A snap after Burrow and Chase nearly had one of their patented touchdown go-ball strikes on the second drive from 29 yards out ("I felt good about where I put it. He got tugged a little. Sometimes you get those calls, sometimes you don't."), Chase leaped for a pass over the middle in the red zone. When the ball went off his fingertips, cornerback Marlon Humphrey picked the carom.

"I was a bit high," Burrow said.

Two plays after Bengals cornerback DJ Turner II, the emerging Pro Bowler, had an interception bounce off his facemask that would have ended the first half, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson hit wide receiver Zay Flowers for a 28-yard touchdown with 23 seconds left that made it 14-0 at halftime.

One of those days where the Bengals were a few inches from being up 14-0 at the break.

"Not that far," said Burrow, when asked about how close the Bengals are to getting back to those championship moments.

Left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., who played in one of those AFC title classics with Mahomes against Burrow, had just played in his 37^th AFC North game. He knew what those first few moments meant.

"When you get off to a slow start against a team like the Ravens," Brown said, "they get you out of rhythm. I think they did that really well today."

Brown is always the last guy to leave after a home game. His locker is kitty corner to Burrow. The space between them leads to the door. Burrow stopped by Brown's locker on the way out. A few words among captains. After he left, Brown shook his head.

"It's not all on him," Brown said. "It's where the chips fall in professional football. A lot of blame obviously goes to the quarterback. But it's not all on him. I think everybody had a play in not scoring a point. It comes down to executing."

Burrow may have been shut out, but his status as what Brown calls "our engine," of the locker room got louder on his toughest day as a pro.

"That's the type of cat he is," said right guard Dalton Risner. "He wants to put it on himself. There's a lot of stuff we have to clean up on the offensive line. I'm speaking for myself. It's not all on him. Great leader. Great guy. Great competitor. A lot of people have to get better."

Safety Geno Stone stopped by Burrow's locker on the way out after he recalled how hard Burrow worked to get back from surgery on turf toe in a rehab that took just two months.

"A pro's pro," Stone said. "I never really heard Joe speak up like that. Kind of saying it was on him. It's always good to have your leader talk up and say something like that … He fought to get back for us to get here. We have his back."

Edge Myles Murphy, after the first two-sack game of his career, didn't think a transcript of his remarks was needed.

"He's not too much of a talker," Murphy said. "Stepping up to talk was enough, honestly."

The rookie Knight is also known to be slow out of the locker room after home games. His discussion with Burrow, the man he called "the lethal assassin," gave him a chance to tell him his thoughts.

"I appreciate who he is and what he stands for," Knight said. "I know he'll get back right after it."

Then he glimpsed a figure walking through, one of the last to leave on a day the locker room was reminded who owns it.

"There he goes right there," Knight said.