Joe Burrow has gotten the better of Trevor Lawrence whenever their teams have met.
Burrow is hoping that trend continues on Sunday when his Cincinnati Bengals host Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday in a matchup of 2-1 teams.
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Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) speaks in a press conference after an NFL football game against the New England Patriots in Jacksonville, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow talk during a news conference after an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Pittsburgh, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Justin Berl)
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) passes against New England Patriots linebacker Elijah Ponder (91) in the second half during an NFL football game in Jacksonville, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, left, runs with the ball during the second half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelersin Pittsburgh, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Justin Berl)
Burrow is 3-0 in starts against Lawrence. The first was in the College Football Playoff national title game in the 2019 season when he threw for 463 yards and accounted for all six touchdowns in LSU's 42-25 victory over Clemson.
The most recent time Burrow faced the Jaguars though is one he would like to forget. The franchise quarterback suffered a turf toe injury during the second quarter of last season's Week 2 game while being sacked by Jaguars defensive tackle Arik Armstead.
Even though the Bengals rallied for a 31-27 victory behind Jake Browning, Burrow missed the next nine games after having surgery on his left big toe. The Bengals season imploded as they lost eight of nine.
Burrow's focus though is making sure Cincinnati gets back on track after a loss at Pittsburgh despite passing for 282 yards and three touchdowns. Cincinnati was in Steelers' territory during the fourth quarter when Burrow fumbled after being sacked by Derrick Harmon.
Burrow will face a Jaguars defense that is second in pressure rate this season.
“They’re deep. Their two edge rushers — Armstead and DaVon (Hamilton) are really good. All those guys can play really good football, get pressure on the quarterback, stop the run,” Burrow said. “Then the rest of their defense plays with their roles really well, understands what they’re trying to do with their coverages.”
The Jaguars' defense has picked off a pass in eight straight games, the longest active streak in the NFL, and has allowed a league-low 36 points this season.
Cincinnati's defense also has plenty of questions going into the game. After strong games against Tampa Bay and Houston, the Bengals reverted back to the level of the past couple of seasons against the Steelers with missed tackles and lapses on long pass plays.
Lawrence has 65 completions of at least 20 yards since the start of last season, third most in the AFC. The Bengals allowed five last week.
“Things have changed and I think they’ve figured out kind of what they’re good at. And in some ways I think it’s kind of simplified," Lawrence said of the Bengals, the only AFC team he hasn't defeated.
"I think sometimes that’s the hardest thing to go against is a really well-coached defense that might not bring a ton of pressures and all those things and have guys running free, but they’re just always in the right spot at the right time and you got to really earn every run, every completion, all those things. I think they’re doing a good job of that right now.”
Jacksonville (2-1) at Cincinnati (2-1)
When/where to watch: Sunday, 1 p.m. EDT, CBS.
Latest odds: Bengals by 2 1/2.
Against the spread: Jaguars 2-1; Bengals 2-1.
Last week: Jaguars beat the Patriots 35-6; Bengals lost to Steelers 30-27.
Last meeting: Bengals beat Jaguars 31-27 on Sept. 14, 2025, in Cincinnati.
Series record: Tied 13-13.
Jacksonville wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter versus Cincinnati wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins: Hunter had his first career interception last week and became the fourth player since 2000 with an interception and a touchdown catch in his first two seasons. The Jaguars rotate their coverages, meaning Lawrence will go up against both Chase and Higgins. Chase has 14 games with multiple touchdown receptions since 2021. He needs one more to become the fifth player in NFL history with at least 15 games in his first six seasons.
— Cincinnati has won the past four meetings in the series and is 9-5 in games played at home.
— Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence has thrown 25 touchdowns in his past 10 games. Only Matthew Stafford of the Rams has thrown for more TDs in a 10-game span over the past two seasons.
— Jaguars WR Parker Washington has at least five receptions for 70 yards in four of his past five games on the road. He had five catches for 76 yards in last year's game.
— Jacksonville has not allowed a running back to gain at least 75 yards in 20 straight games, tied for the fourth-longest streak in the past 50 seasons.
— Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow needs six completions to reach 2,000 for his career. If he does it on Sunday he would tie Kansas City's Patrick Mahomes for the fewest games to reach the milestone (81 games).
— Bengals RB Chase Brown has gained at least 75 scrimmage yards in his past eight home games.
— Cincinnati has 10 sacks, tied for fourth most in the league. Defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence had his first two sacks with the Bengals last week.
See AP’s full NFL coverage here
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) speaks in a press conference after an NFL football game against the New England Patriots in Jacksonville, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow talk during a news conference after an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Pittsburgh, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Justin Berl)
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) passes against New England Patriots linebacker Elijah Ponder (91) in the second half during an NFL football game in Jacksonville, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, left, runs with the ball during the second half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelersin Pittsburgh, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Justin Berl)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance both hit the campaign trail on Thursday, but headed to heavily Republican areas to shore up lagging enthusiasm in their party ahead of next month’s midterm elections.
Trump’s travel to Texas and Oklahoma kicked off what the president said will be a 32-day campaign blitz leading up to Nov. 3.
“I think we’re going to win. Every place I’ve gone, we win,” Trump said during a speech at a truck facility in Denton, northwest of Dallas. He said some have suggested his “heart isn't in it. My heart is in it,” and if not, he'd be “home right now.”
“My heart is in it like never before,” Trump said of the runup to the midterms.
Vance, meanwhile, stumped in Florida, putting the Republican Party’s highest-ranking officials in areas where GOP candidates once expected to have glide paths to victory but are now facing tougher races. The vice president tried to cast the GOP as representing common sense in the face of a Democratic push to the left.
“I have the easiest job in the world,” the vice president said in Lakeland, Florida. “I get to talk about how crazy the Democrats are.”
Trump and Vance could have their work cut out for them, though.
A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that only 17% of U.S. adults approve of Trump's handling of the cost of living. Just 26% approve of his handling of the economy overall, marking a new low.
Republicans have expressed growing pessimism about their chances in the election, which will determine control of Congress, as the president has repeatedly dismissed concerns about high costs and gas prices as his unpopular war in Iran drags on.
According to Trump, his party’s headwinds are merely a matter of poor public relations about a job he says is well done.
“Maybe we’re doing a bad job selling it,” Trump said in Texas.
Still, the president spent far more time scoffing at his predecessor, President Joe Biden, reliving his 2024 presidential campaign and defending the war in Iran than he did talking about how he'll help lower the cost of living.
Instead, Trump scoffed at questions about affordability while insisting that they'd been caused by Biden, who left office more than two years ago, while also insisting that prices were actually currently coming down.
“I think inflation is very real, but they’re the ones that caused the inflation,” he said. “I’m the one that’s bringing it down, and we have to be able to get that word out somehow because they’re using the word affordability.”
The Democratic National Committee said Trump and Vance are "desperately trying to rally their base as the midterm elections approach and Republicans face defeat.”
“Donald Trump and JD Vance started a deadly and costly war with Iran that sent the economy spiraling and pushed prices even higher, and now — in the final stretch to the midterms — they’re desperately pleading with voters to 'give (them) another chance,'” said DNC deputy communications director Kendall Witmer.
In Oklahoma, Trump is campaigning with Republican Mike Mazzei, who is running against Democratic state House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson for governor.
The event is being held on the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, putting Trump in the company of just a handful of U.S. presidents who have visited tribal nations while in office.
Before his evening Oklahoma stop, Trump toured the truck facility and chatted with workers in Texas, where Republicans are spending heavily to try to bolster state Attorney General Ken Paxton in a Senate race. Paxton faces a very competitive challenge from Democratic state Rep. James Talarico.
Paxton attended the event and Trump joked that he “could be a pain in the ass sometimes, I’ll be honest” but also noted, “We need Ken so badly and that’s why I’m here.”
Trump didn't summon Paxton to the stage. He also shouted out, but didn't invite to speak, an unlikely traveler accompanying him, former NBA star Dennis Rodman. Trump praised Rodman as his longtime friend and said Rodman had become close with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Trump will be campaigning in more politically competitive areas in the weeks ahead as he embarks on his travel blitz. But Republican officials will not send him to places where they think his presence could drag down their candidates, according to a person familiar with the party’s strategy who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Trump’s Oklahoma visit, and likewise one on Friday to Alabama, are aimed at hitting two targets with one stop, the person said.
Republican officials have noted that Trump's visit brought him close to the Dallas-Fort Worth media market, meaning the president's message reached Texas voters who could back Paxton.
His Friday stop in Mobile, Alabama, is aimed not only at boosting Sen. Tommy Tuberville as he runs for Alabama governor but also at shoring up support in Florida’s adjacent panhandle for Republican Rep. Byron Donalds. Donalds is running for Florida governor against David Jolly, the Republican-turned-independent who is now running as a Democrat.
Donalds' campaign in heavily GOP Florida comes as Republicans there have faced some turbulence and voter concerns about affordability and artificial intelligence data centers have become central issues.
With Trump in Oklahoma and Texas, Vance campaigned for Donalds in central Florida. That came a day after the vice president campaigned in Texas, rallying with Republican candidate Eric Flores, who is in a tight U.S. House race in south Texas.
“I know that there are people out there who are frustrated by the pace of progress,” Vance said in Harlingen, Texas. But "we have spent every single day fighting for you, digging ourselves out of the hole that Joe Biden left us in.”
Trump will also campaign on Saturday in Vandalia, Ohio, and on Monday in Grand Island, Nebraska.
In a meeting on Capitol Hill this week, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles described privately to GOP senators that Trump will have a near-daily sprint of campaigning ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms.
Wiles showed Republicans the president’s upcoming travel schedule, which attendees described as extensive and almost every day, all across the country.
West Virginia Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said that White House officials are “acknowledging the headwinds” but that “they have a strategy, and we have a strategy,” including money that the president’s operation will continue to deploy.
Capito also defended the White House’s plan to send Trump to traditionally conservative territory, arguing that he can motivate the Republican base not just where he travels but elsewhere in the country because he has such a broad reach.
“He can get more of his voters out — that are going to be our voters — than anybody else,” Capito said.
Associated Press reporters Jamie Stengle in Denton, Texas; Seung Min Kim in Washington; Jesse Bedayn in Austin, Texas, and Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.
Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Rep. Byron Donalds speaks during a campaign rally with Vice President JD Vance in Lakeland, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool via AP)
U,S, Vice President JD Vance arrives at a campaign rally to support the GOP gubernatorial candidate Rep. Byron Donalds in Lakeland, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool via AP)
People listen as.President Donald Trump speaks at Peterbilt Motors, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, in Denton, Texas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, applauds Republican U.S. Senate candidate Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton as President Donald Trump speaks at Peterbilt Motors, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, in Denton, Texas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump speaks at the Peterbilt Motors Company, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, in Denton, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez
Vice President JD Vance arrives for a rally in Harlingen Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
President Donald Trump speaks during an East Room event at the White House celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
