Play of the Day

On a day he matched the legendary Tom Dempsey with a 63-yard blast Sunday that ended the first half at Paycor Stadium with the first Bengals 60-yard field goal ever, Evan McPherson wanted to switch places with Patriots rookie kicker Andy Borregales.

According to Elias, McPherson became the fourth kicker in history to kick a 60-yarder and 50-yarder in the same game. But it wasn't enough for him.

Borregales' fourth and final field goal of the day "only," went 52 yards, but it came with 1:51 left and gave the Pats the final 26-20 cushion.

"I think he topped my kick with that last one that he had," said McPherson, who began the day with a 54-yarder at the end of the game's first drive.

"At the point of the game. That made it a six-point game. and we needed a touchdown and we just couldn't go do down there and kick a long field goal to send it to overtime. I think Andy got us right there at the end and that was a really impressive kick by him."

McPherson set the Bengals' record with a 59-yarder at Paycor in the 2022 opener on his first attempt of the season. When he suffered a season-ending groin injury 51 weeks ago, Cade York tied it here against Cleveland while kicking in his place.

Now he's got the club record by himself again after an NFL kicker hit from 60 for the 14^th time in history. He said it had five yards to spare, which would tie the record of 68 set by Jacksonville's Cam Little three weeks ago.

It's not lost on McPherson that Dempsey's record that stood for 43 years came from 63. He was 14 when the Titans' Matt Prater got it from 64 in a 2013 game.

"It's impressive when other guys do it. I'm just happy I could do it, too," McPherson said. "It's very meaningful. As a kid in college and high school, you always dreamed of those situations. I hit the 60-yarder in high school and had the state record for a little bit until my little brother broke it. You always dream of those types of situations. Kind of keeping the energy up going into the halftime and get the team rolling a little bit. I was really excited to get that opportunity."

McPherson compared his hit to a "Perfect-Perfect," a gaming reference from MLB's "The Show," except this one caught history and not the shortstop.

"I was aware the record was 59. Now we just have to keep pushing it back," McPherson said.

Elias says McPherson became the first kicker since Dallas' Brandon Aubrey on Sept. 22, 2024, to hit a 50-yarder and 60-yarder in the same game.

Another Red Badge Of Courage Award

Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco got it after the Nov. 2 game against the Bears when he sifted Chicago for a career-high 470 yards with a sore throwing shoulder. He only threw for 183 yards Sunday, seven days after T.J. Watt drilled him in said shoulder. But against the Patriots, he threw his only touchdown pass of the day about five minutes after getting a finger mangled on his throwing hand.

"It was just all bent up and dislocated. I had to go get it pulled out real quick," Flacco said matter-of-factly.

"I've never done that. I've never had to do it."

On the follow-through of his 13-yard pass to tight end Mike Gesicki as the clock ticked under six minutes with the Bengals trailing, 23-13, Flacco hit the hand of old friend Eric Gregory, the rookie undrafted defensive tackle the Pats grabbed from the Bengals at the end of training camp.

Flacco fled to the sidelines, backup Jake Browning searched for his helmet and ran away from the rush for a 14-yard completion to Andrei Iosivas before Flacco came back in after he threw a pass on the sideline.

"We tried to put tape on it, but it just made it stiff. It didn't really help it too much, so we just went without it," Flacco said.

He promptly threw a pass downfield that drew a 39-yard pass interference penalty on Pats cornerback Carlton Davis for throwing wide receiver Tee Higgins to the turf on what amounted to a game-ending concussion for the Bengals' best player with Ja’Marr Chase sidelined.

On the next snap, Flacco dropped a 17-yard pearl to wide receiver Mitchell Tinsley beating cornerback Christian Gonzalez with 4:40 left to cut it to 23-20.

"Pro's pro," Tinsley said.

Stone-Cold Answer

The last-ranked Bengals defense has had a tough year, but after giving the Steelers 20 points last week, they held NFL passing leader Drake Maye to three field goals in the second half Sunday and continually stoned the Pats in the red zone to look like they've turned the corner.

"I think so. We have to keep it going ," said edge Joseph Ossai. "I think a big thing is stopping the run the last few weeks. The front is taking heat off the linebackers and the linebackers are taking pressure off the secondary."

New England ran seven plays inside the Bengals' 15-yard line during a third-quarter possession as the defense heroically kept it a 17-13 game, including four snaps from the one-yard line.

Safety Geno Stone came flying up to make initial hits on Pats running back Rhamondre Stevenson on third and fourth downs from the 1 to cap it. Stone has been getting heat for his missed tackles, but on Sunday he was immense with 13 tackles and added the second pick-six of his career. It was the first of Maye's career, and it came on a floater Stone took back 33 yards 16 minutes into the game to give the Bengals a 10-0 lead.

"I felt like I wasn't playing up to what I should be playing at, and today I feel I showed what I'm capable of, and who I really am," Stone said. "We're showing what our real identity is. It took a while. It took a lot. But we're finding guys in the right spots, and we're all just playing with heart right now. Guys are flying around, we're owning up to all the mistakes we had early in the season, and we're all just playing together right now."

Quote of the Day

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor: "The fight, it is what it is. We don't appreciate losing. It's not fulfilling. It's sick. Our guys, they keep showing up. They keep doing a great job during the course of the week, keep practicing their tails off. They're doing everything they can on the field, we just came up short. You saw guys that have played all year, you saw guys that came in there and got their first opportunities, you saw guys that came in there on a one-play notice, and guys just kept fighting."

Turning Point

The Bengals had a 10-7 lead when Flacco suffered his own 33-yard pick-six to cornerback Marcus Jones with 7:42 left in the first half. Flacco was trying to find Higgins downfield, but he was plastered and sent a flat check-down in the flat to rookie running back Tahj Brooks on the right sideline.

"It's a shame. I feel bad about the pick-six, but at the same time I didn't see the guy," Flacco said of a second pick-six in as many weeks. "It's one of those plays you want back. It's a simple play. A play-action and look for Tee, and check it down. I gave Tee all the opportunities and they just had the right coverage on him. You don't draw it up like that when that happens. It's one of the simplest plays in football. Those are going to hurt you."

It was a microcosm of how the Pats handled Higgins without the suspended Ja'Marr Chase to contend with against Flacco. A lot of zone.

"I kind of just saw it from the sense of matching the back ... I saw him go through the progressions, and then I went from there," Marcus Jones said. "I was just watching the quarterback's eyes. I saw him flash toward the running back, so I didn't want to go down there too soon. Just tried to time it up, and I timed it up just in time."

Iosivas led the Bengals with four catches for 61 yards on a day they just clicked on 21% of their third downs, their lowest third-down rate in six Flacco starts.

"I feel they do a good job of playing (from the) top down, and taking away some of the quick stuff by coming up and pressing, and you're not able to get the ball out of your hands to hit them really quick, Flacco said.

"They do a good job playing top down with their eyes on the quarterback and having some help. There's time they played man(-to-man), but they were able to drop some other guys underneath. I think with Tee specifically, you're always shading his way, and then just trying to throw off his rhythm, whether that's at the line of scrimmage or holding your ground 10 yards down the field with your eyes back on the quarterback and making it tough to break leverage."

What's Next

Heavy speculation surrounding who the Bengals quarterback is for the Thanksgiving Night game (8:20-Cincinnati's Channel 5) in Baltimore.

Joe Burrow hinted two weeks ago this is the game where he wanted to return. We already know that the ultra-competitive Burrow isn't happy this is the fourth straight year the Bengals are playing in Baltimore prime time and no doubt he knows the last time they won there it was a 1 p.m. game in 2021.

Head coach Zac Taylor came close to starting Burrow Sunday. But it sounds like he didn't want to put Burrow's surgically-repaired big toe through two games in five days right out of the box.

"We want to win, and Joe (Burrow) gives us a great chance to win. Joe Flacco has given us every opportunity. We haven't lost games because of Joe Flacco. He's gone out there and given us everything, and he understands that," Taylor said. "That being said, we'll also be excited to watch Joe Burrow. I've watched Joe Burrow now for six years and seen the things he can do as well. He's worked really hard to get himself back. He's a football player. He wants to play football. We want to win football games, so that will lead into that decision."

The Ravens eased over the Jets Sunday, 23-10, and now have won five straight to pull into a tie for the AFC North lead with Pittsburgh at 6-5.

Slants and Screens

With starting cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt out for the year, the Bengals moved Dax Hill from the nickel to the outside. and Maye went after him to draw two pass interference penalties on the same drive.

They promoted Jalen Davis from the practice squad for the first time this year to play nickel, and he started for the first time in his 58 NFL games and 53 Bengals games. He had to play a lot because it appeared Marco Wilson re-aggravated a hamstring on his first snap of the game in the first series and was lost for the day.

Davis, who has had stints on the Bengals roster and practice squad since 2020, responded. He had three tackles and a blitz that gave him his second NFL sack, first with the Bengals …

Bengals cornerback DJ Turner II drew Pats' Pro Bowler Stefon Diggs and blanketed him on one catch for six yards until 3:01 left and the Pats facing a third-and-11 leading, 23-20. Maye had time to let Diggs run across the field and catch a 14-yarder with Turner in pursuit …Still, Turner played great and outplayed his 2023 draftmate Christian Gonzaelez, the Pats cornerback having a fine year himself …

The Bengals are now 0-2 without both Burrow and Chase …