Joe Burrow needs 48 touchdown passes to take out Andy Dalton's Bengals career record. That's not news. But it is now because Burrow is shooting to do it this season.

"I'm pretty close to the Bengals franchise touchdown record. I think I'm 50 or something away, so that would be nice to break this year," said Burrow Wednesday during his first news conference of the 2026 season.

Ah, the Seamless Joe Swag is back.

Told that 48 would do it to pass Dalton's record of 204, Burrow simply said, "Doable."

His career-high is that 43 from his 2024 master-of-the-universe season. That would give Burrow 200, putting him past the 197 of the franchise's all-time passing leader Ken Anderson.

Anderson, a Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist, says he thinks Burrow can do it. Whether it's 48 or 50.

"Heck yeah. The way the passing game is nowadays and he's showed he's put up those numbers before," Anderson said Wednesday. "So I've got all the confidence in the world he can do it."

Only three passers have hit 50 in a season with Peyton Manning's 55 topping the 50 of Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes. Manning also has a 49-TD season, while Dan Marino and Aaron Rodgers are the only others to crack 48 touchdown passes.

And Burrow has thrown his 157 touchdown passes in 77 games while becoming the most accurate passer of all-time with a 68.5 completion percentage. Burrow and Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Drew Brees are the only two guys with multiple percent passing seasons, but it was Anderson's record of 70.55 in 1982 that Brees broke in 2009.

"That just shows you how accurate he is," Anderson said. "He's talented, but the work he puts in the offseason to get ready for the season is impressive."

Burrow Seeks Long Strikes

Burrow comes into this season looking for the long ball of 2021 (when he was runner-up to NFL leader Matthew Stafford with 15 passes of at least 40 yards) and 2022, when he had 10.

But 2024 wasn't bad, either, with Ja’Marr Chase catching eight of Burrow's 40-yarders. So he must be looking at last season, when he had one in his eight starts, and Joe Flacco had two 40-yarders in his six starts replacing Burrow.

"We've been great in third down and red-zone situations, but we've got to get back to being the explosive offense that we were in '21 and '22," Burrow said. "For a couple of years, teams were playing us a little differently, so we had to adapt and now defenses are starting to turn back the other way. They are pressuring more and playing a little more man, so we have to go back to burning them and becoming an explosive offense again."

Never Enough Joes

Burrow is pleased Flacco is back to back up, if not a little surprised he's not somewhere else.

"I love being around Joe and watching him play. To have somebody behind me who can step in and play the way he did last year, I think will put our team in a good position," Burrow said. "I would say, based on the way he played, I was surprised nobody wanted that."

Burrow's Best Club

Burrow says it's the best roster of his seven in Cincinnati and starts with The Big Man. He calls Dexter Lawrence II the best defensive tackle in the league because, "He's bigger and stronger than everybody. And getting to know him, it means a lot to him. He wants to go out and perform well and assert his will, so when you have a guy like that, it's going to be exciting to watch and be a part of."

He likes the move for the reason the Bengals made the move to get Lawrence from the Giants for the 10^th pick and tipped his hat to the travails of the front office.

"I was fired up, obviously. It's tough to find a guy at pick No. 10 that's going to have more of an impact than Dexter will. So it's exciting that we went and made that happen.

"The front office has taken a lot of heat from the fans, the public, the media. We can put all of that behind us. They went and made it happen with free agency … We don't know a ton about these rookies yet, but it seems like they brought the right kind of guys in. And then obviously with Dexter, making a trade like that, that doesn't happen a ton in the NFL. So it's exciting to see."

Ambassador Joe

So much for Burrow issuing mandates during the offseason. Except for some phone calls during free agency, there were other pursuits.

"I was less involved this year than in years past," Burrow said. "There's no secret that the last several years didn't go the way we wanted to, and there's a lot of blame to go around for that, myself included.

"We're in a great spot this year. We brought in great people and great players. You can feel the vibes of the locker room. The energy is elevated right now. We have some veteran guys that can come in and show the younger guys on defense what it takes, what it means to be great every day. That's exciting to be a part of."

Burrow also has as much passion for where he wants to put this team off the field, as well as on it. He warms to the title of ambassador in his effort to grow the Bengals brand and has been thinking about it for a long time.

"The first couple of years, when you see how the league pushes certain teams and puts certain teams in big spots," Burrow said. "Why they do what they do, studying that, and the teams that are in those positions year in and year out. There's a reason for it, and that's a position that I want the Bengals to be in.

"I think the number one thing is you have to win, and we're going to go win a lot of games this year and play great and win a Super Bowl, and everything that comes with that comes with that part of that too, is playing internationally."

That's a big reason, no doubt, why Burrow opted to play in the last Pro Bowl, a whirlwind couple of days that began with a phone call with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Burrow says he has a good relationship with Goodell, as seen in the flag football tournament a few weeks after the Pro Bowl.

"It's an exciting thing to be a part of, trying to grow football, whether it's flag or tackle football, and I think one will go with the other," Burrow said. "If one gets popular, the other one will as well. And I'm going to be a part of that."

Burrow also has a friendship with Goodell's wife Jane Skinner through their interest in fashion.

Slants and Screens

Burrow says the talk about playing flag football in the Olympics is in the future, and he says there'll be a conversation with the Bengals. And already has been.

"It's something that I'd like to do, depending on obviously the timing and how people here feel about it," Burrow said. "Those conversations are great. There were no qualms about me doing that, but if there were, then I wouldn't have done it.

"There's constant dialogue with Duke (Tobin) and Zac (Taylor) and everybody about things that I want to do, things that maybe I should or shouldn't do. There's constant dialogue with them." ….

Burrow is toying with keeping some form of carbon fiber turf toe plate that aided his supersonic 75-day comeback from last season's turf toe injury.

"It's like, why not?" Burrow asked. "It won't be as stiff. We'll see where that goes. I'm trying a lot of different things out right now to see what works best for me." …