By: Associated Press and WCPO staff
CINCINNATI — Joe Burrow has been hospitalized to check for a throat contusion following the Bengals’ Sunday afternoon showdown against the Packers at Paul Brown Stadium.
The two teams played hard, with scores staying close for much of the game.
With just a little more than three minutes left in the fourth quarter, RB Joe Mixon scored an eight-yard touchdown, followed by a two-point conversion from Tee Higgins.
From there, rookie kicker Evan McPherson missed two kicks — one just seconds before the end of the fourth quarter and one in overtime. The Bengals ultimately fell to the Packers 25-22.
McPherson believed so strongly in his 49-yard attempt to win the game in OT that he celebrated by leaping into holder Kevin Huber’s arms, before realizing the kick had missed to the left.
“I mean, I honestly was celebrating before the ball, I guess, curved to the left,” McPherson said. “Maybe a gust of wind caught it at the last second. I struck it well. You know I’m upset about it but there’s nothing I can do about it now, just kind of move on to Detroit and the next kick.”
McPherson could have won the game in regulation, but his 57-yard attempt caromed off the right upright with 26 seconds left.
“We have a lot of faith in Evan,” said Bengals head coach Zac Taylor. “He’s going to hit a lot of those.”
Packers kicker Mason Crosby had his fair share of struggles during the game as well. He missed three straight field goal attempts and an extra point in the game.
It was Crosby’s worst game since a 2018 loss to Detroit when he missed four field goals and an extra point. The Packers were doing everything to change the karma prior to Crosby’s last kick, a 49-yard field goal with 1:55 left in OT.
“It was just fourth-and-inches. I went over to Mason and I said, ‘Hey, what do you think?’ I saw the look in his eyes. There was zero flinch from him,” Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said. “If I felt anything different, we were going for it.”
The Bengals have not released an update on Burrow’s condition or whether he will miss any future games.
Reposted with permission from WCPO 9 Cincinnati
