A quick look at Sunday's 37-14 win over the Cardinals at Paycor Stadium.

Play of the Day

Joe Burrow gave Cody Ford a cave bear skull for Christmas. During the Bengals' 37-14 win over the Cardinals Sunday at Paycor Stadium, Ford, his massive 6-3, 345-pound offensive lineman, celebrated his 29^th birthday giving Burrow a memory to survive the ages.

A hellacious 21-yard catch-and-run that put the ball on the Bengals 2 to set up their last score of the game with 1:38 left in the third quarter and put Ford's teammates on the brink of delirium.

How about a 17-yard YAC for the big man?

"I couldn't believe what I was watching. It was sick," said Burrow, who said it was even a bigger surprise than last year's touchdown pass to defensive end Sam Hubbard.

It certainly made Cards rookie cornerback Denzel Burke ill on the former Buckeye's trip back to Ohio.

On first-and-10 from the Cards 23, Ford caught the hitch near the Bengals sideline and turned it niftily up field as if he were the Cardinals' Trey McBride. A few minutes later, McBride set the NFL record for most catches in a season by a tight end.

The 5-11, 190-pound Burke was no match for the man twice his size. Burke tried to push him out-of-bounds, but Ford shrugged him off like a bad idea.

This idea, by the way, first broached by offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher earlier in the week, turned out to be a good one.

There was All-Pro wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase lined up tight to Burrow's right. Then came wide receiver Andrei Iosivas in the next split. Ford, a guard-tackle who started at four spots last year, was split the widest near the sideline.

"Joe kept telling me to just get wider during the week," Ford said. "Eventually, I thought he's just telling me to get the hell out of the way so I didn't mess up anybody else's route. It was a different story when it all played out.

"I don't even know what progression I was," Ford said.

It turned out third. As usual, Burrow looked for Chase first. A check-down to tight end Drew Sample jammed up. Ford was hard to miss.

He thought it was a joke until Tuesday night's walkthrough under the lights at Paycor. They ran it on the left side, and Ford lost it in the lights, but still caught it. On Wednesday, they ran it during the afternoon practice on the grass, and he caught that one on the left side, too.

"I played tight end in junior high and freshman year in high school," said Ford of his first catch since he grabbed one against Brame Middle School in a neighborhood rivalry game in Pineville, La.

"I got more nervous as he threw the ball to me and everything went slow," Ford said. "In practice, he threw it to my chest. But out there, he threw it to my up-field shoulder … I'm thinking, 'OK, I have to use my hands.'"

There he was. No. 61. Out wide.

"A dream come true," Ford said. "Every lineman dreams to line up as a receiver one time."

Turning Point

With the Bengals leading, 13-7 in the second quarter, the Cardinals' constant use of five pass rushers that would suddenly turn into four, at times, briefly took its toll when they sacked Burrow on consecutive snaps and had him staring at a third and 22 from his 47.

Burrow flipped a screen pass to running back Chase Brown, and center Ted Karras got a good block in space on linebacker Cody Simon. Brown cut back behind Karras and got five extra yards shooting through attempted tackles by linebacker Zaven Collins and safety Kilan Crawford.

Those five yards gave Evan McPherson a 57-yard field goal that made it 16-7 with 3:21 left in the first half.

"It was called a screen there. Just trying to get it out of our hands," Burrow said. "That was field-goal range. That was points. That was a big play in the game."

Quote of the Day

Ford on not getting into the end zone:

"I was just running with my head down. When I looked up, I'll be where I'm at. Whatever happens happens.

"Look, all last night all I was thinking was if he throws it to me, just catch it and get north. If there's one big coaching point I've heard every receiver coach say, that's all I was thinking about."

Defensive Player of the Game

Bengals cornerback Dax Hill showed off his versatility once again when he was assigned Cardinals All-World tight end Trey McBride on early downs, when the Cardinals often go with three tight ends.

Here's why.

On the first series of the second half, Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett went play-action and tried to go deep to McBride on an out and up. Hill was able to run with him, and when the ball was underthrown, Hill knocked it away on the sideline for one of his three passes defensed.

Hill figures they ran that personnel a handful of times, but it didn't look like they got much, if anything, out of it. By the time the Cards got the ball back, they were down, 30-7, and McBride had two catches for 18 yards on four targets. He may have finished with 10 catches for 76 yards, but it's the most misleading stat of the month.

"He ran only specific routes in that (three tight end look). We knew what was going on," Hill said. "That's what we've been doing the last couple of weeks. Going man-to-man and guys are winning their one-on-ones."

Also big was cornerback DJ Ivey coming off the bench in the dime package to cover McBride on third down, where the Cards were three of 13.

With the all-out effort on McBride and Pro Bowl alternate cornerback DJ Turner II making sure wide receiver Michael Wilson popped only one play in an 89-yard day, the Bengals allowed a season-low 233 yards.

"Just taking away (McBride's) favorite routes," said Ivey, who had a pass defensed. "A seven route and over route. The linemen tell you pretty much what he's going to run. "That was the goal. Take him out of the picture."

Offensive Player of the Game

Chase Brown keeps showing why he's one of the top running backs in the league. He not only set up McPherson's 57-yarder to turn the game, he had a career-high 141 scrimmage yards to go with his third 100-yard rushing game (101) of the season on a season-high 22 carries and two rushing touchdowns.

"I'm making the most of my opportunities. Most importantly, I've been able to receive the ball and then step up with protection," Brown said. "We take pride in this offense in this room like what (back) Samaje (Perine) did today. He stepped up and knocked someone down on their butt.

"That's like a touchdown. I saw it energy-wise. I was thrilled today. I feel really good about how we're playing, just trying to finish off this season and bring all that energy into next year."

Brown referred to Perine's crushing block on a blitz on third-and-six against rookie cornerback Jaden Davis, in his second NFL game and just off the practice squad. Davis went down in a heap as Burrow unleashed a 32-yard pass to tight end Mike Gesicki.

The next snap was the 21-yarder to Ford.

Quote of the Day

Ford on not getting into the end zone:

"I was just running with my head down. When I looked up, I'll be where I'm at. Whatever happens happens.

"Look, all last night all I was thinking was if he throws it to me, just catch it and get north. If there's one big coaching point I've heard every receiver coach say, that's all I was thinking about."

Slants and Screens

Apparently All-Pro wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase is one of the few to know his two touchdowns Sunday were his first since the Oct. 16 win over Pittsburgh at Paycor.

Burrow: "I didn't even realize he had a touchdown drought. He's the same guy every day for the most part. Sometimes in the mornings, he's a little tired, but once we get out to practice, he's the same guy every day. He just goes about his business and goes and produces on Sundays and plays great."

Head coach Zac Taylor: "I really wasn't aware of it until Tee (Higgins) pointed it out in the last game, during the game."

The drought-breaker, the 13-yard touchdown to open the scoring, was certainly worth waiting for. On the bubble screen to the perimeter, Chase made Burke miss at the line of scrimmage. He then spun around cornerback Darren Hall at the 5 before running over the linebacker Simon at the goal line.

"I think everything is just instincts in that moment.," Chase said. "That's what we needed, especially on that first series. That's how we get momentum, and in the second and the third. It's all important. In that first series, it was very important."

When Burrow saw Burke miss him in space, he knew it was 6-0.

"That's just icing on the cake for me. My job is to give playmakers the ability to make plays and get the ball in their hands," Burrow said. "Coaches spend a lot of time throughout the week trying to find ways to get our guys the ball in space.

"You can scheme it up a lot of different ways, and the easiest one there is trying to figure out a way to put Ja'Marr one-on-one with a corner, and it was a good, well-designed play, and obviously Ja'Marr is great." …

First-round pick Shermar Stewart racked up his first NFL sack in the second half when he bull-rushed 320-pound tackle Josh Fryar and then swiped his way to Brissett.

He settled for blowing kisses to the crowd for his celebration.

"That was the first thing I could think of at that point," Stewart said. "Everything I had planned went right through the window." …