How Joe Burrow divided up the targets in Week 2

The Cincinnati Bengals lost a thrilling Thursday Night Football showdown with the in-state rival Cleveland Browns. The Bengals managed to score in the last minute but failed to recover the onside kick, bringing the final score to 35-30.

Joe Burrow played much better than he did against the Los Angeles Chargers. Instead of throwing no touchdowns and one interception, Burrow made sure he found the end zone, and he did so three times with no picks.

Dropping back in the pocket and attempting a ridiculous 61 passes, Burrow threw for 37 completions, an NFL record for a rookie.

In Burrow’s debut against the Chargers, it was A.J. Green who benefited the most, seeing nine targets.

The second game of his career, Burrow was much more prolific, throwing for over 300 yards. Dividing up 61 targets among nine different receivers, Burrow threw 13 of them Green’s way. He caught just three. His target share has easily been the highest on the team.

Following Green was second-year tight end Drew Sample with nine targets. Boyd at eight was next and before several players tied at six and then four was Giovani Bernard who had seven targets.

• Green — 13 targets
• Sample — 9 targets
• Boyd — 8 targets
• Bernard — 7 targets
• C.J. Uzomah, Tee Higgins — 6 targets
• Joe Mixon, Mike Thomas — 4 targets
• John Ross III — 2 targets

Higgins and Sample’s target share are a few notable differences from last week. Higgins was completely MIA in the team’s 16-13 Week 1 loss. Sample and Higgins combined for just one reception last week.

Boyd led all players with 72 yards. He was the only Bengal over 50 yards through the air as Burrow spread out the love quite a bit. Three different players all also caught touchdowns with Thomas, Boyd and Uzomah all getting in on that action.

Boyd’s late-game catch was easily the best of game.

That said, Green continues to be Joe Burrow’s favorite. Three receptions for 29 yards on 13 won’t cut it, so the duo have to find a way to be much more productive for the Bengals to move the chains more often.