Joe Burrow Frustrated Following Bengals' Win Over Seahawks: 'It's Better to Win Ugly Than Lose Pretty'

Cincinnati improved to 3-3 on the season following Sunday's win over Seattle.

Author:
James Rapien
Publish date:
Oct 16, 2023 8:02 AM EDT

In this story:

CINCINNATI — "It's better to win ugly than lose pretty."

It's a message Zac Taylor thought of as he was walking off the field following the Bengals' 17-13 win over the Seahawks.

Cincinnati scored touchdowns on their first two possessions of the game, but couldn't put a quality drive together for the rest of the contest.

They had eight more possessions for the remainder of the game. They punted six times, only generated five first downs, one drive ended with an interception and they didn't move the ball an inch before Evan McPherson kicked a 52-yard field goal to extend their lead early in the fourth quarter.

Taylor congratulated St. X head football coach Steve Specht on Saturday following the Bombers' 21-14 win over Cleveland St. Ignatius. Specht's response stuck with the Bengals head coach.

"The good news is we found a way to [win]," Taylor said. "They had a win on the road and that's a great job. He said it's better to win ugly than to lose pretty. And that was the first thing that hit me when I walked off the field today. At times it felt ugly, especially on offense. But again, our defense stepped up and made some big plays for us. It allowed us to get out of there."

The Bengals' defense held the Seahawks to just six points after giving up a touchdown on the first possession of the game. Seattle scored just three points in four red zone trips. Two of those stops came in the final 2:02 of the game.

It was a group effort on defense. Sam Hubbard, Trey Hendrickson, DJ Reader, B.J. Hill and Cam Sample all made big plays and made life tough on Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith.

Cam Taylor-Britt and Mike Hilton both secured interceptions.

"I just looked at the 11 guys on defense and nobody was batting an eye," Hubbard said after the win. "Everybody’s tired, everybody’s battling, and it was just such a grind. Being out there with those dudes, I knew nobody was going to tap out and we were going to keep fighting.”

It'll be easy to focus on the negatives following the win. The Bengals' offense was awful for most of the game after a hot start. Their hot start is the most puzzling thing about Sunday.

Joe Burrow completed 17-of-19 passes to start the game, including 15-straight at one point. It looked like the Bengals' offense was going to take off and have their best game of the season. Instead, they got stuck in the mud midway through the second quarter and never recovered.

"Offense was really good in the first half," Burrow said after the game. "We were horrible in the second half. So, we just have to be able to put together a complete game.”

Burrow finished the game 24-of-35 for 185 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He was less accurate as the game went on and the offense couldn't overcome it.

After their first two scoring drives to start the game, their longest possession was just 3:37 and that ended with an interception. The Bengals' defense responded with their best performance of the season. It's exactly what they needed to grind out a win and get to 3-3 before the bye week.

There aren't extra style points for wins in the NFL. Burrow wasn't particularly happy after the win. No one on offense was thrilled with the way they finished [or didn't finish] the game.

"We have to be better," Burrow said to one teammate that stopped by his locker to congratulate him after the win.

The Bengals know they need to be more consistent. They know their offense has to be much improved. They're averaging just 16.67 points-per-game, which is tied with the Raiders for the fifth-fewest in the NFL.

Fixing the offense and becoming more consistent is easier to swallow now that they're .500 going into the bye week.

"It’s a lot easier to fix things when you’re 3-3 than if you had lost this one," Burrow said. "I’m never going to apologize for a win."

The Bengals' offense was frustrated after the game. Burrow was certainly unhappy with the way things went, but that doesn't mean they won't enjoy a victory over a quality team.

“I’ve learned winning is too hard in this league to not appreciate wins," Burrow said. "I’m going to enjoy it, but like I said, there’s still a lot of room to improve and a lot of room to grow.”

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