Joe Burrow's franchise-record play became an afterthought for him after Bengals' ugly win over Giants

Who could've guessed such an ugly victory for the Cincinnati Bengals would've started with such a satisfying play?

After taking the ball for the first possession of the game, the desperate Bengals were 18 yards away from a drive-extending first down. Failing to score out the gate would be a big loss to take with the way the rest of the game would play out. It may've been the first domino to fall in a back-breaking loss altogether that could've sent the Bengals' season down an even darker path.

It was a loss quarterback Joe Burrow wouldn't accept. He wasn't interested in just moving the chains. He wanted six points. He got all six by traveling 47 yards at 19 miles an hour.

Electrifying, right? It slipped Burrow's mind when asked about it after the game.

"Oh mine? I forgot about that," Burrow said with a chuckle to reporters after the win. "I just saw an opening, saw it was man coverage, and, you know, was able to squeak through there and find the end zone."

Burrow was more focused on the other touchdown the Bengals scored on the night, the 30-yarder running back Chase Brown had that sealed a 17-7 win.

Brown will have more like that in his promising career. Burrow may never have a run like this again.

In his ongoing five-year career, Burrow has never rushed for anything close 47 yards on a single carry before. He's never rushed for 40 yards. Or 30. Or 25. A 23-yard scramble has happened twice in his career, and both nearly broke the record for longest rush by a Bengals quarterback: 27 yards by Jeff Driskel back in 2018 .

That's right. Burrow now holds the record for longest rush by a quarterback. Just another feather in his cap, all due to his biggest strength.

"That's instincts by him," head coach Zac Taylor said to reporters . "You know, it was a pass play, and he just can see that they kind of overloaded that side over there with coverage. And he found a good rush lane once the rushers kind of took off and used his feet to do the rest."

It was the first of three game-deciding plays by Burrow. The other two wouldn't come until opposite ends of the second half. His 33-yard connection with Ja'Marr Chase early in the third quarter progressed a drive that resulted in a field goal that gave the Bengals a lead they wouldn't surrender.

Fast forward to right before the two-minute warning. Hanging on to a three-point lead, Burrow scrambled out of the pocket on a third-and-12 and found slot receiver Andrei Iosivas for 29 yards and the biggest first down of the night.

Nothing out of the ordinary from Burrow's point of view.

"He's great at scramble drill," Burrow said of Iosivas. "He has been since he got here. It was a big play in the game. Was able to escape left and find it."

Even the 47-yarder on the ground wasn't so monumental for him. When asked if it was the longest touchdown run of his career, Burrow said he's had plenty longer back in the day.

"I think I probably had a 70, 80-yarder in elementary school," Burrow said. "We ran a lot of QB sneaks, and back then they couldn't stop that. I took it for like 70 or 80 sometimes. That was like fourth, fifth, sixth grade somewhere around there, I guess."

47 will have to do 20-something years later.

The highlight will live on, but Burrow is well aware that there are more important things to think about. Cincinnati's offense sputtered against a great pass rush, looking much more vulnerable than they have in recent weeks. A week after saying he needs to play near-perfect, he was anything but this time around.

But if all else fails, the Bengals' quarterback can always be counted on to make a play. Whatever it takes.