Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence Star as Bengals Edge Past Jaguars in TNF Duel

The Cincinnati Bengals are the sole leaders of the AFC North.

Cincinnati defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 24-21 in Thursday's showdown at Paul Brown Stadium. Joe Burrow, Tyler Boyd and C.J. Uzomah led the way for the victors, who improved to 3-1 and jumped ahead of the 2-1 Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns in the division.

Burrow directed four straight scoring drives in the second half with the final one ending with Evan McPherson's game-winning field goal.

A solid showing from Trevor Lawrence wasn't enough for the Jaguars, who dropped to 0-4 and are still looking for their first win of the Urban Meyer era.

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Notable Player Stats

• Joe Burrow, QB, CIN: 25-of-32 passing for 348 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs
• Joe Mixon, RB, CIN: 16 carries for 67 yards, 1 TD
• Tyler Boyd, WR, CIN: 9 catches for 118 yards
• C.J. Uzomah, TE, CIN: 5 catches for 95 yards, 2 TDs
• Trevor Lawrence, QB, JAX: 17-of-24 passing for 204 yards; 8 carries for 36 yards, 1 TD
• James Robinson, RB, JAX: 18 carries for 78 yards, 2 TDs

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Joe Burrow's Incredible Second Half Flips Game

Cincinnati hasn't made the playoffs since the 2015 campaign, but it has the offensive weapons to change that this season with Burrow, Joe Mixon, Ja'Marr Chase and Tyler Boyd. Still, it wasn't a stretch to suggest a playoff run might require a victory over lowly Jacksonville considering the daunting schedule ahead.

The Bengals looked like anything but a playoff team in the early going Thursday.

The defense struggled to stop the rushing attack of James Robinson and Lawrence, while the offense never got anything going on the ground itself. The deep balls that have defined the Burrow and Chase connection to this point were nowhere to be found, and Boyd was the lone bright spot as the home team fell behind by 14 at intermission.

It reached a point that the fans were even booing as the Bengals left the field for halftime, but that may have been just the spark they needed.

A seemingly different team took the field in the second half as Burrow directed three straight touchdown drives to tie the game in the fourth quarter. The first one ended with a touchdown pass to Uzomah after a long connection to Chase, the second one was methodical until Mixon scored, and the third one was another Uzomah score with the tight end playing the role of fantasy football sleeper.

The Burrow-to-Uzomah show continued throughout the second half, as the tight end made the biggest play of the ensuing winning drive by taking a bubble screen and darting into field-goal range.

That was all McPherson needed as the Bengals turned what looked like a difficult loss to overcome into their third win in four games.

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Trevor Lawrence Flashes Improvement in Defeat

The start of the 2021 season has not been kind to rookie quarterbacks, and Lawrence is no exception.

After all, the Clemson product threw multiple interceptions in each of Jacksonville's first three games and struggled to adjust to the NFL level. It looked like the Jaguars were in for another struggle when wide receiver DJ Chark Jr. was carted off the field on the first possession with what NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported was a fractured ankle.

It would have been easy for Jacksonville to fold after that on a short week on the road, but it turned in its best half of the season instead. Robinson started the scoring with a touchdown run in the first quarter, and Lawrence used his legs on multiple read-options, including when he stretched the lead with a touchdown run.

The Jaguars were primed to all but put the game away after Lawrence found Laviska Shenault Jr. with an incredible deep ball on the run to move into scoring range again, but Cincinnati stuffed Lawrence on a keeper on 4th-and-goal from the 1-yard line.

The failed fourth down was something of the turning point when the Bengals came flying out of the locker room, but Lawrence deserves plenty of credit for his response with the game tied at 14. He found Jamal Agnew—who made an incredible catch and toe-tap to stay in bounds—and then converted a fourth and third down to Shenault before Robinson scored again.

Jacksonville didn't have any answers like that when its lead slipped away in Week 3 against the Arizona Cardinals, and it underscored some of the improvement that is already on display.

Unfortunately for the visitors, they didn't have an answer when the Bengals tied the game up at 21. Instead, Meyer decided to punt on 4th-and-4 from midfield in the last six minutes, and the Jaguars never got the ball back in the loss.

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What's Next?

Both teams are home in Week 5 when the Bengals face the Green Bay Packers and the Jaguars go up against the Tennessee Titans.