The Cincinnati Bengals’ 2026 schedule release video quickly picked up traction online after a clip featuring quarterback Joe Burrow and Maxx Crosby to take a shot at the Baltimore Ravens.

The clip also tied into the ongoing “Joe Burrow cried to the league” meme that has circulated among Ravens fans since Burrow publicly addressed Cincinnati’s scheduling pattern against Baltimore.

The Bengals leaned directly into that rivalry while unveiling their Week 7 matchup against Baltimore. The video showed Crosby and Burrow hugging before the narrator said, “We’re division rivals, you can’t back out of this one.”

The line referenced Baltimore backing out of its reported offseason trade for Crosby after the star pass rusher failed his physical.

According to A to Z Sports, Baltimore had reportedly agreed to send two first-round picks to the Las Vegas Raiders for Crosby before the deal collapsed.

The Ravens later pivoted quickly toward signing former Bengals pass rusher Trey Hendrickson, a move that only added more attention to the failed Crosby situation.

Hendrickson was already expected to leave Cincinnati regardless of the Crosby situation. The Raiders, meanwhile, were left dealing with the fallout of the collapsed trade.

According to an ESPN report, Las Vegas had already committed nearly $300 million in offseason spending with the expectation that Maxx Crosby’s contract would soon come off the books.

As noted by SB Nation, Cincinnati kept things relatively straightforward before slipping in the Ravens' jab through the Crosby clip in the schedule release.

Bengals-Ravens Rivalry Spills Into Schedule Release Season

According to Yahoo Sports, NFL vice president of broadcast planning Mike North acknowledged earlier this offseason that Joe Burrow had a “fair” point regarding Cincinnati’s scheduling trend against Baltimore.

The Bengals had played their featured prime-time matchup against the Ravens on the road for four straight seasons before the NFL finally shifted the 2026 meeting back to Cincinnati.

The schedule change became a solid talking point online once the full slate was released. Cincinnati and Baltimore are now set to meet on Thursday Night Football at Paycor Stadium on New Year’s Eve, marking the first time since 2021 that the Bengals will host that prime-time AFC North matchup.

The scheduling discussion also carried extra weight because of the team’s offseason.

Baltimore’s reported Maxx Crosby trade collapsed before the start of the new league year, after which the Ravens quickly pivoted toward signing former Bengals pass rusher Trey Hendrickson to a four-year deal.

The sequence of moves kept both AFC North rivals tied to several of the offseason’s biggest NFL storylines even before the 2026 regular season begins.

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Written by

Rudra Dubey

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Rudra Dubey