MADRID (AP) — Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is trying to make the most out of his first overseas game in the NFL.
Burrow and the Bengals are in Madrid to take on the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, looking to win their fourth straight game and move to 6-2 in the AFC North.
The trip is not only about football for Burrow, though. He was not yet with the Bengals when the team played its first two games abroad in 2016 and 2019 in London.
“This is somewhere that I’ve always wanted to go," he said Friday. “And so to be able to do it while doing what I love, playing football, is really a dream come true for me.”
Burrow said he was recognized by a group of Americans studying abroad while walking around the Spanish capital, but was enjoying a bit of anonymity on the streets of Madrid.
“I usually expect to go pretty incognito and not have anybody recognize me,” he said. “It’s a little bit more than that, but I love being out here because I can feel like a normal person for a little while.”
Europe was also allowing Burrow to enjoy one of his passions: art.
“I went to Museo del Prado on Wednesday, that was cool,” Burrow said of Spain’s renowned art museum.
And the plan for his half-day off on Friday was to go find more art in Madrid.
“I’d like to go see some more museums and go to an art gallery, do a little shopping, but we’ll see,” he said.
Shopping in Madrid could also be an attractive option for Burrow, who’s been known for his interest in fashion and bold pregame outfits. And it could be good timing for him, as the Bengals quarterback said he has been going through a style change.
“I’ve tried to elevate my looks a little bit recently,” he said. “For a couple of years there, I was full streetwear. And I started out going suits on gameday every day, and didn’t really feel like that was me. So I switched it up to full streetwear. And that might have been an overcorrection in my creative mind. I’m finding a happy medium now.”
Burrow said he grew up watching soccer and lamented not being able to see one of the two Spanish powerhouses play while he was in Spain.
“I’ve followed international sports for a long time, followed Real Madrid for a long time. Watched Barcelona play Real Madrid a lot,” he said. “Played with both of those teams on FIFA a lot when I was a kid. And loved watching soccer my whole life really. So I wish they played while we were here at their home stadium, so we could go. Unfortunately, that’s not gonna happen, but hopefully one day I can make it.”
Burrow said the Bengals’ “explosive” and “dynamic” offense will be “fun to watch” at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. He said he was excited about being the NFL’s main attraction Sunday morning in the United States.
“I love the only game on TV on Sunday morning when people back home wake up and I love showcasing our talents abroad and trying to bring attention to what we do,” he said.
Burrow threw for five touchdowns and ran for another in overtime as the Bengals rallied to defeat the Tennessee Titans 43-36 last Sunday.
“We’re completing a lot of passes right now. Our offensive line is protecting great. I think this is the best that that group has played since I’ve been here, which is really exciting to see,” he said. “And, you know, a lot of our young players are getting better and better. And we have the right guys who attack every day with the intent to be better than the day before. And I think that is so valuable in this sport.”
Burrow said the Bengals still have more to prove before deserving to be considered Super Bowl contenders.
“I don’t think we deserve it yet,” he said. “We haven’t done enough. There’s still a lot of season left. We certainly have to be a lot better than we have been if we want to be that team at the end of the year winning the Super Bowl. We certainly can. We have the capability to do it, but right now, we aren’t there.”
Bengals coach Zac Taylor joked that he wouldn’t really accept anyone going for American fast food while in Madrid.
“I’ve judged a couple people,” he said. “Now, my kids might be opting for that, if you’re under 14 years old, yes. If not, I will judge you greatly.”
Wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase was quick to say Friday that he wasn't one of those going for fast food, but he did say he missed his chef. He also said he was recognized “maybe twice” on the streets of Madrid.
On Thursday, defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence said he missed his bed.
See AP’s full NFL coverage here
Cincinnati Bengals players attend an NFL football practice in Madrid, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) runs for a touchdown against the Tennessee Titans during overtime of an NFL football game in Cincinnati, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump led a transformation of the Supreme Court that ushered in a conservative supermajority but soon he will confront an emboldened Democratic-led Senate that is preparing to play hardball on his judicial nominations.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is likely to return as majority leader next year, promised in an interview with The Associated Press that Democrats will prevent the Republican president from installing a “right-winger” on the Supreme Court and that they are “not going to allow any crappy nominees” elsewhere in the federal judiciary or in Trump's Cabinet.
Democrats will hold at least 54 seats in the 100-member Senate next year and as many as 56 depending on final results in Mississippi and Alaska, giving them a significant majority to block Trump's nominees or just ignore them outright.
After years of being on the losing end of highly partisan confirmation fights against Republicans, especially on Supreme Court nominees, Democrats will be under considerable pressure to wield the same type of aggressive tactics.
This all but erases any prospect that Trump could add to his imprint on the court he established in his first term by naming three of the current justices. In the past, Trump had mused privately that he could end up nominating up to seven people for the nine-person bench by the end of his second term, according to a person with knowledge of those comments.
Schumer declined to say specifically whether he would hold any Supreme Court vacancy open until after the next presidential election, as former Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell did in 2016, clearing the way for Trump to nominate the first of his three Supreme Court picks.
“The bottom line is, we’re not going to allow a right-winger on the court,” Schumer said.
The White House said Thursday that “extreme Democrats have a history of politicizing the Supreme Court, even entertaining plans to pack the Court with liberal justices.”
“President Trump will never let them pack the Supreme Court and ruin the independent judiciary," White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said.
Neither of the court’s two oldest justices, Samuel Alito, 76, or Clarence Thomas, 78, has publicly indicated an imminent retirement. Lifetime appointments typically come with a remove from political upheaval, even of the scale of Tuesday’s elections in which Democrats regained control of both the House and the Senate.
“I think the justices must know that if they were to retire now, at this moment, right before Democrats take the Senate, there would be an enormous amount of pressure unlike any we’ve seen to make serious change to the court,” said Dale Carpenter, a law professor at Southern Methodist University’s law school.
Alito has publicly mused about retirement in recent months, telling The Associated Press that he’s not sure “how long I’ll be able to continue to do this job.” But he’s also said he’ll stay on the court through the end of the term next summer and told Bloomberg he would not step down during a lame-duck period.
Meanwhile, Thomas is closing in on a record-setting tenure and would become the longest-serving justice in the nation’s history if he served until May 2028.
Trump has shown unusual deference to Alito and Thomas, even as he’s attacked other justices who’ve ruled against him, praising both for their legal acumen and declining to say whether they should step down so the president could nominate their successors.
In a Fox News Channel interview in April, Trump said he has a shortlist of potential nominees but said he did not know whether he would have another vacancy this year, citing Alito’s “very good physical health.”
The Democrats' sizable margins in the Senate also will hamper the Republicans' effort to regain ground in the 2028 elections, in which the GOP will be defending states such as Wisconsin, North Carolina and Iowa where Democrats made significant gains on Tuesday.
“Chance of confirming a worthy successor to Justice Thomas and/or Alito during President Trump’s term: Zero,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis posted on X after Tuesday’s elections. “Chance of confirming a worthy successor during a hypothetical GOP admin 2029-2033: probably zero (GOP won’t be able to recapture enough seats in 28).”
Historically, some justices have timed their retirements with the president who would name their successor in mind, but it’s far from the only consideration in their decision-making.
Former liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg famously resisted efforts from progressives to retire when President Barack Obama, a Democrat, was in office and died in the last year of Trump’s first term, allowing him to replace her with conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
Barrett would go on in 2022 to join the majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which erased the constitutional right to an abortion.
Even if there were a surprise Supreme Court vacancy in the coming weeks, lame-duck confirmations while Republicans still remain in power aren’t a sure thing.
Trump effectively forced Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina out of a reelection bid. That seat was won Tuesday by one of the state's former governors, Democrat Roy Cooper. The president also opposed two Republican incumbents in their primary races, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Sen. John Cornyn of Texas. Democrats flipped the seat in Texas. Maine Sen. Susan Collins, another Republican who lost, attributed her defeat in part to Trump.
This story has been corrected to show Democrats flipped a U.S. Senate seat in Texas, not a seat in Texas and a seat in Louisiana.
President Donald Trump speaks before signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks at the Center for American Progress (CAP) post election forum, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
