Joe Burrow Lamar Jackson Stage Red Zone Rally

BALTIMORE _ The 4-5 Bengals are just 20 yards away from returning to the AFC North race against the 6-4 Ravens.

Thursday night's Red Zone Rally (8:15 p.m. – Cincinnati's Channel 9, Amazon Prime) here at M&T Bank Stadium pits the Bengals' No. 3 red zone offense against the Ravens' No. 1 red zone offense , with 15 touchdowns in their last 18 drives inside the opponent's 20 and 24 consecutive points since the opener.

Both quarterbacks, Bengals MVP candidate Joe Burrow and reigning Ravens MVP Lamar Jackson, often make it seem like improvisation overshadows innovation when they see red.

More playground than playbook.

“You look at the league and when you're down there, it's a lot of quarterbacks making plays,” Burrow said this week after throwing three red-zone touchdowns against the Raiders on the road.

“It's hard to design things to give guys a breakthrough. Just because you have 10 yards to work with, you have to be quick and decisive. We're pursuing concepts that I'm comfortable with, so I know someone will be open.” And if something isn't right, I always have confidence in my ability to come out of my own pocket and make a play, whether it's passing the ball or finding someone on defense.”

“I would say probably 50/50,” Burrow said when asked if improv plays score higher than scripted plays.

Bengals three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase, who has scored two of his NFL-leading seven receiving touchdowns to limit red zone drives, isn't so sure.

“Everything is playbook, it just turns into a street court,” Chase says.

Bengals wide receivers coach Troy Walters says it can be a lot like basketball.

“Lose your husband. Be open. Take a step,” Walters says.

Why not? They have a wide receiver in Tee Higgins who is a former Tennessee Mr. Basketball and a tight end in Mike Gesicki who is the 2014 New Jersey State Dunk Champion. Add to that the collegiate performance of wide receiver Andrei Iosivas in the heptathlon and: “We are blessed to have a lot of different weapons when we get into the red zone,” says passing game coordinator Justin Rascati.

Both Burrow and Jackson have plenty of goals there. The Bengals have seven players with touchdown catches in the red zone, four with more than one. The Ravens have six players with multiple touchdowns, nine total.

Whatever it looks like, Rascati and offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher are working together every week to put together a thoughtful plan to give Burrow an option early in his development.

If they play Sunday games, they meet on Monday and Tuesday and present their plan to the team on Friday morning for the walkthrough on Friday and Saturday. This week it was shortened to Sunday and Monday, with the walkthrough on Wednesday afternoon before they got on the plane.

“I’m not entirely sure,” Rascati says of the percentages. “Honestly, we have a quarterback that does everything right at the end of the day. He does everything at such a high level.

The red zone is Burrow's playground, where he has thrown 13 touchdowns and no interceptions. The only quarterback who has thrown more touchdowns without a pick than Burrow is, of course, Jackson of the Ravens.

Things are likely to get more difficult down there the less real estate you get. But they're both just as lethal inside the 10, where they each have ten touchdowns and no picks. Only Minnesota's Sam Darnold has more, with 11 touchdowns and no interceptions.

Bengals slot cornerback Mike Hilton, who faced Burrow every day this past training camp, says what Gesicki said after last Sunday's game. In fact, Burrow is underrated in a way that is crucial to red zone production.

“He doesn't get the respect for his escape ability,” says Hilton, who says Burrow and Buffalo's Josh Allen are the two toughest red-zone quarterbacks he's ever played against. “He has a pocket presence, but he extends plays as well as anyone.”

Look last Sunday against Las Vegas when he went off script to three different receivers in the scramble drill for touchdowns in the red zone. But what looks improvised can also be the result of planning.

Grab tight end Drew Sample's two-yard touchdown catch. Sample started the play by blocking, then saw his man drop, and Burrow finished with everything you shouldn't do as he rolled toward the right sideline and threw across his body.

Maybe they didn't talk about this specific scenario in a walkthrough, meeting, or sideline. But both Burrow and Sample performed the basics of the scramble drill, which is practiced and trained weekly. It started early and often when tight ends coach James Casey demonstrated the scramble drill to the offense during a lengthy spring training session.

“The most important thing is to play with great effort,” Rascati says of the scramble exercise. “Find out where Joe escaped, move to the side and attack the front and rear lines. They want to find space. You don't want to handcuff these guys. Maybe it won't be talked about in a walkthrough. But there are things.” There's an assumption that you can uncover based on what the defense does. You don't want one defender to be able to cover two or three players.

And what may seem unpleasant is actually alarming. Sure, Burrow threw samples against his body, but he and quarterbacks coach Brad Kragthorpe work on off-platform throws every day. Those statuesque practice photos of Burrow in the bag are a rarity. This is usually the time when he works on the missed throws.

“It’s his ability to keep games alive,” Gesicki said. “Throw openly while in motion. Weird arm angles. Guys are moving targets. All these things. He gets a lot of credit for that.”

Or as Walters says: “The throws in the red zone have to be so precise. And that’s what he excels at.”

This close to the goal line, offensive players typically have to solve seven- and eight-man zones designed to take away those spaces, especially inside the ten.

But take last month against the Ravens, when the Bengals scored three intended touchdowns from the 11. Higgins (quad), who was doubtful to play on Thursday, scored on Slants from the 11 and 5. The first score came when both Higgins and Chase Slants were running. The second came from a flash and the center opened. Running back Chase Brown added the third score when he ran a pick play with Gesicki and scored from the 4.

Iosivas, who has scored eight red zone touchdowns in his 30 career catches, also scored on an early option last week when he passed through the middle of the Raiders zone from 10 yards out and they ran downfield from the 5 after escaping a tackle.

“There was a hole in the zone, they put the ball right at me and I was able to run away,” says Iosivas.

Two plays earlier, the Bengals reached the edge of the red zone when Chase Brown scored on the ground for a 12-yard gain. An effective running game is practically a must to loosen up looks inside the 20. And 4.1 yards per carry is the highest it's been at the halfway point of any of Bengals head coach Zac Taylor's six seasons.

“When teams are down seven or eight or are betting on two players with a high degree of certainty, you have to take advantage of the numbers in the box and the matchups you have,” Rascati says. “The ability to double team the run game. We are confident that we can score points in this way too.”

Sometimes innovation looks like improvisation. When Iosivas scored with a great four-pointer late in the third quarter in Kansas City, something that looked like improvisation had been planned in practice. As Burrow danced in the pocket for a few seconds, Iosivas whipped cornerback Joshua Williams, first going to the middle and then viciously returning to the outside.

“Sometimes it's planned, but I think Joe and I talked about it in one of the walkthroughs. If they play a certain way, just go back out,” Iosivas said. “It can happen in the walkthrough, but you can watch it on film and talk about it on the sidelines. I would say it's a hybrid. The most important thing (in the red zone) is to be aware of your surroundings.”

Take Gesicki's first Bengals touchdown, an 11-yarder last Sunday in the left corner. The expected zone wasn't there, and Gesicki had an immediate plan against man coverage that was the result of countless drills and walkthroughs.

“I probably won’t get the ball straight away. Then I turned around and saw (Burrow) running,” Gesicki said. “At the top of the route I did the quick one-two and tried to get back to the side where Joe was running and he saw me.”

“It’s really about having an understanding. You just don't say, 'Oh, scramble drill.' When it comes to an over (route), you don't want to run back to where the crosser came from. You have to understand the spaces you can break through to, and then it's just one play.

Playground or playbook? The old jersey dunk champion had to laugh.

“One day like the other becomes a playground,” says Gesicki. “Then you give Joe credit.”