Real Madrid’s home turned orange and black on Sunday. In only the second NFL game ever staged in the Spanish capital, the Cincinnati Bengals saw off Atlanta by 34 points to 17 before 78,660 spectators at the Bernabéu, a crowd that sounded overwhelmingly like a Cincinnati home game.
Joe Burrow barely missed. The quarterback completed 24 of his 29 throws, gained 271 yards through the air, found the end zone three times by pass, then ran in a fourth score himself. Ja’Marr Chase did most of the damage downfield with ten catches worth 155 yards plus one score, which he and Tee Higgins celebrated with a matador routine. His teammate Higgins ended the afternoon with a pair of scoring catches of his own. Chase later turned up to his news conference carrying a signed jersey of Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.
The result was Cincinnati’s fourth win in a row and took the Bengals to 6-2, sharing first place in their division with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The two rivals meet next Sunday night. Head coach Zac Taylor praised the travelling support, saying he had felt the fans “in the streets”, at the hotel and inside the stadium.
Atlanta, by contrast, beat itself. The Falcons were flagged 12 times for 88 yards, as many as they had collected across their prior three outings. Early on, a holding flag pushed them back from a position one yard short of the end zone, and with the game still in reach late on, Nick Folk missed a kick from 38 yards. Michael Penix Jr. threw for 162 yards with a touchdown and an interception. “Not good enough … in every area,” said coach Kevin Stefanski, whose team has now lost four of five, sits at 3-6 and faces Kansas City next.
