Is it just me, or is Joe Burrow playing angry? There seems to be a defiance in the quarterback’s late-season surge — as there was when he spoke candidly earlier this season about his need to play perfectly for the Bengals (7-8) to have any chance to win or now when he details the team’s need to retain top wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.

Burrow’s Bengals have won three in a row while he keeps on playing at perhaps the highest level of his career to date. During this, the defense has enjoyed a mini-resurgence, in part due to easy opponents and in part due to the coaches changing things up.

If it was up to Joe Burrow’s teammates, his gift to them may have been a little bit different than the authentic Japanese Katana swords he gave them.

Joe Burrow kept the Cincinnati Bengals' season alive with another tremendous outing on Sunday, tossing three touchdown passes to take down the Cleveland Browns, 24-6. Afterwards Burrow was asked about the viral Christmas present he got all his linemen— individualized samurai swords.