Joe Burrow & Baker Mayfield Proved There’s More Than One Way to Win in the NFL

One quarterback threw it 48 times. The other threw it three times and didn't complete a pass. Both won. Week 8 offered "two different ways to win football games in the National Football League," as Rich put it on The Rich Eisen Show, and the contrast between Joe Burrow and Baker Mayfield was almost too perfect.

Burrow went 38 for 48 for 462 yards with six total touchdowns, five through the air and one on the ground, the last of which won it in overtime against the Titans. Mayfield, pictured on the show "all muddied up because the rain was coming down sideways," went 0 for 3.

The crew joked that by the end, Tampa should have dialed up a bubble screen or a flip into the flat, anything, so Mayfield wouldn't finish with a zero. "It's raining sideways," came the reminder.

The Bucs came first, with Mayfield introduced on set as "my boy." Tampa was once 1-5 and things weren't looking good. Against Atlanta, the running game took over completely. Kenneth Gainwell and Bucky Irving became the first teammates in NFL history to each have 25 or more rushing attempts and 125 rushing yards in a game. The Bucs ran for 324 yards, the most in franchise history and the most by any team since the 2024 Colts put up 335 against the Titans.

Then came the oddest stat of the day. Mayfield became the third starting quarterback since the merger to win by 15 or more points with no completions and at least two pass attempts. One of the other two was Grogan, Chris's guy, who did it in 1984 in a 38-23 win over Seattle. The other did it in 1992, going 0 for 3 in a 19-0 win, also over the Seahawks.

It got stranger. Mayfield never connected with a Buccaneer. Penix, on the other side, connected four times with a Buccaneer. "I shouldn't laugh," came the reaction on set.

Mayfield's best play may have been a block, getting out in front on one of Gainwell's long runs. Afterward, he explained: "If I'm not going to throw the ball, I got to get active somehow. So me and Jesse were out there playing in the mud," a reference to Atlanta's Jessie Bates.

The game carried extra meaning for Mayfield, who had circled it because he wanted to beat Stefanski, something remembered on set as one of the big moments of Mayfield's offseason podcast tour. Asked after the game whether he talked to Stefanski before or after, Mayfield said simply, "Nope." The delivery was the best part. "It was not only the nope, it was the head nod."

Tampa also held Bijan under 90 rushing yards for the fourth straight game, and ESPN Analytics now gives the Bucs a 57 percent chance to win the division. At 3-5, they're a half game behind the Panthers, with the Saints a game back after their bye.

Then there's Cincinnati. The Titans showed up, even after losing Jeffery Simmons, and Cam Ward had a nice game, going 26 of 40 for a career-high 304 yards and two touchdowns. The Bengals still needed a second straight 13-point comeback, making them the first team with multiple 13-point comeback wins this season and the first to do it in consecutive weeks since the 2020 Saints.

Burrow's day was historic for him. He threw three interceptions, but it was his first career game with five passing touchdowns and 400 passing yards. "Joe was not to be denied," Rich said.

The stakes are real. With the Steelers looking the way they're looking, the division is there for the taking, but Cincinnati already lost to the Steelers in Week 3 and has a Sunday night game at Pittsburgh after returning from Madrid. That one was flagged on set as a must-win. One voice on set predicted Cincinnati would win the division before the season, took grief from friends in Baltimore, and now feels pretty good about it. Another projected "13 wins at worst."

How was a team with Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase, Chase Brown and Tee Higgins ever a sleeper? Because nobody thought it could win 13 games.

"That's why everyone says wins is not a quarterback stat," someone offered. The comeback: "Yeah, we should just take that away from Baker Mayfield." One completed 38 passes, the other completed none, and both look good to win their divisions. Whatever it takes.