CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Bengals are hitting the highway for Thanksgiving. Ideally, quarterback Joe Burrow would like to be at residence.
Cincinnati is slotted for a Week 13 vacation sport in opposition to the Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati’s division rival that has received the AFC North in back-to-back seasons. And along with his workforce enjoying Baltimore in prime time for yet one more yr, Burrow had a tongue-in-cheek request for the NFL schedule makers.
“Taking part in in Baltimore for the fourth straight prime-time yr is not splendid,” Burrow stated after Tuesday’s voluntary exercise. “Possibly we will get a type of in Cincinnati subsequent yr. Please.”
The Bengals have performed an evening sport at M&T Financial institution Stadium in every of the previous three seasons. All of them have been defeats, together with final yr’s 35-34 loss in Week 10.
The matchup options the AFC North’s most profitable groups lately. The Bengals received the division in 2021 and 2022 earlier than the Ravens took the division crown in 2023 and 2024. Baltimore has received 4 straight video games in opposition to Cincinnati.
Bengals coach Zac Taylor echoed Burrow’s feedback and stated the workforce would like to have extra prime-time video games at Paycor Stadium. This yr, three of Cincinnati’s 4 scheduled evening video games are highway contests.
Nevertheless, Taylor pointed to the workforce’s success in these conditions final season. Cincinnati received three of the workforce’s 5 prime-time highway video games in 2024, and the coach stated the workforce is embracing the problem forward of this yr.
“Taking part in on Thanksgiving evening in a stand-alone sport with the entire world watching, sitting on their sofa, is admittedly thrilling,” Taylor stated Tuesday. “It is why you are on this enterprise.”
Nevertheless it’s not simply the prime-time video games that Burrow needs. He additionally expressed a need for the Bengals to get a world fixture. Cincinnati missed out on enjoying the Dolphins in Spain this yr and aren’t slated to get a world sport till 2027, Bengals govt vice chairman Katie Blackburn instructed reporters on the NFL’s annual league assembly in April.
Burrow stated a part of the explanation he agreed to be featured within the Netflix present “Quarterback” was to increase the league’s footprint internationally.
“To not have a stage like that could be a little disappointing,” he stated. “I really feel like I’ve consciously labored arduous to attempt to develop the sport internationally during the last 18 months or so. Hopefully in some unspecified time in the future in my profession we will go over there.”
