The Bengals put the league on notice with their 41-17 victory over the Ravens on Sunday, but that win won’t mean much if Cincinnati doesn’t continue to play well.
That was the message from quarterback Joe Burrow, who spoke to reporters in his weekly press conference on Wednesday. Burrow has been at the forefront of Cincinnati’s resurgence this season, completing 69 percent of his passes for 1,956 yards with 17 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
But the quarterback knows the Bengals can’t get complacent just because they’ve defeated the Steelers and Ravens on the road this year.
“We’re in a place that we haven’t been in a while but we’re not satisfied with where we are,” Burrow said. “We’ve got to go out to practice every day, keep getting better, because other teams are going to keep getting better as well. We’ve got bigger aspirations than 5-2. So we’ve got to keep getting better every day, go out to practice, get through our reps, come back in and watch the film — just keep grinding.”
Burrow added that the Bengals have smart and mature players who feel the same way he does, which is part of the reason why he feels they’ll be able to maintain their success.
“It was a big win,” Burrow said. “But it doesn’t mean anything if we don’t go out there and win this week and win the week after that and continue to stack these wins and keep getting better and better.
“If we go 0-10 [the rest of the season], nobody’s going to care we beat Baltimore in Week Seven.”
Cincinnati should be able to start its last 10 games on a good note, facing the 1-5 Jets who will start backup quarterback Mike White on Sunday. But they’ll face the Browns in Week Nine for another big divisional matchup before their Week 10 bye.