Bengals vs. Falcons: Three must-know storylines for NFL Week 9 Madrid game

This past summer, Spain sent its top footballers to the United States for a showcase of superior skill, interplay and resolve. The result: La Roja lifted its second World Cup trophy, campeones del mundo.

This Sunday, the NFL returns the favor, in a way.

For the second time in as many years, Madrid is hosting a regular-season NFL game. But unlike last year's contest, which featured a backup quarterback for Washington and a dipping Dolphins side, this installment showcases two teams at near full strength with explosive ability and eyes on the postseason.

Joe Cool is on a heater for Cincinnati, one week removed from a maximalist six-touchdown, three-interception outing in the Bengals' overtime victory over the lowly Titans. A win in Madrid would bring Cincy into a tie with the Steelers atop the AFC North ahead of their Week 10 prime-time matchup. A 6-2 record would be the Bengals' best start since 2015, when they opened the season at 8-0. Standing in their way: the erratic Falcons.

It's hard to get a grip on what the Dirty Birds are halfway through the season. Despite the sub-.500 record, Atlanta is squarely in the NFC South race. But you could say the same of any club in the uninspiring division, including the Buccaneers, who shut out the Falcons last Sunday in a Tampa typhoon without completing a pass. The same Falcons team that whooped up the Packers in Lambeau and handed the 49ers their only loss to date. Make it make sense.

That's a lesson for the host Spaniards: In the NFL, any team can win on any given domingo.

When the Bengals and Falcons meet at the Bernabéu on Sunday -- in a uni matchup so bold it would make Pedro Almodóvar blush -- expect the unexpected. (Oh, and unlike in that brutal World Cup final against Argentina, expect scoring, and lots of it.)

Three must-know storylines

1) Is there any slowing down Cincy's offense?

The Bengals have scored 78 points in the six quarters and change since a scoreless first half coming out of the bye in Baltimore. Will their offensive onslaught continue in Spain?

Joe Burrow paces the NFL in most notable passing stats (73.0 completion percentage, 302.1 passing YPG, 20 TDs). Only four players in the Super Bowl era have ever led the league in all three of those categories in a season: Drew Brees (2011), Tom Brady (2007), Kurt Warner (2001) and Ken Stabler (1976). It helps, of course, to have the NFL's top receiving tandem on your side. Burrow's passer ratings when targeting Tee Higgins (132.3) and Ja'Marr Chase (113.6) each rank in the top five among QB-WR tandems in the NFL. It's a pick-your-poison deal for opposing defenses.

How will Atlanta fare? Possibly quite well.

Burrow might have the highest success rate on downfield passes in the Next Gen Stats era (since 2016), but the Falcons are feisty 10 yards past the line of scrimmage. They've allowed 2.0 yards of separation on downfield targets, the second-lowest mark in the NFL, and have forced a tight window on 34.8% of those targets, the second-highest rate. Plus, Atlanta is one of two defenses yet to allow a TD on a deep pass (20+ air yards) this season.

The Falcons are a turnover-happy bunch, as well, logging at least one takeaway in seven of eight games, including four against Brock Purdy's then-unbeaten 49ers. If Atlanta can force Burrow into some of the same mistakes he made against Tennessee, perhaps the Bengals can be tamed through the air.

One thing's for sure: Unlike the Falcons' last opponent, Cincinnati will complete at least one pass. Right?

2) Another big day for Bijan in a solo window?

No one in the NFL performs better in prime time than Bijan Robinson. A 3:30 local time start in Madrid isn't quite like playing under the Sunday night lights, but it is an exclusive TV window for Robinson and the Falcons, which could mean a showcase for the show-stopper.

The NFL's leading rusher has paced Atlanta's fifth-ranked run game, at one point producing three straight gems in prime time (SEE: 478 total yards against Green Bay, New Orleans and Baltimore in Weeks 3-5). Robinson has slowed over the last three weeks, though the Falcons' ground game was the only thing even moderately functional in the rain-soaked loss at Tampa, with Michael Penix Jr. throwing four picks.

Is this international stage the perfect platform for a Bijan bounce-back?

Cincy revamped its defensive front in the offseason, and it has paid dividends overall. The Bengals have stuffed 31.7% of outside-zone runs, the highest rate in the NFL -- and a good trend against Robinson, who averages an NFL-best 6.5 yards per carry on outside-zone runs with a 53.2% success rate.

Plus, though Robinson is a great tackle-breaker -- averaging 4.3 yards per carry on runs where he is hit at or behind the line of scrimmage, the best rate through eight games by anyone since 2018 -- the Bengals tend not to allow such big gains. They've yielded 0.7 yards per carry (second-fewest) when they've hit the runner at or behind the line, and their 24.5% stuff rate on designed runs is the highest in the NFL.

An acquaintance of Real Madrid and France star striker Kylian Mbappé, Robinson can only hope that in Dexter Lawrence and the Bengals front, he is not, like Mbappé, running into the Spanish backline, bound for a shutout.

3) An international brotherhood

In this seventh international matchup of the NFL's historic nine-game slate in 2026, a unique meeting is set to take place when the Bengals' offense faces the Falcons' defense.

Cincinnati starting running back Chase Brown and Atlanta defensive back Sydney Brown are set to square off against one another for the second time, a battle of twin brothers on foreign soil.

The European encounter won't feel too strange, though. After all, the Browns' journey to this moment has been an international one.

Born in London, Ontario (Canada), the brothers made their entry into the United States in high school when they relocated to Bradenton, Florida. From there, Sydney attended the University of Illinois, while Chase initially went to Western Michigan before rejoining his brother for four seasons on the Fighting Illini. Sydney was a third-round pick of Philadelphia in 2023, while Chase went to Cincinnati in the fifth.

The brothers first played one another in 2024, when Sydney's Eagles stomped Chase's Bengals, 37-17. In the game, Chase found the end zone, while Sydney logged three defensive snaps.

Now, the Browns will meet again, this time across the ocean from their homelands, original and adopted.

Chase is coming off his most productive game in what has been a slow start to the season (101 scrimmage yards versus Tennessee). Through eight contests in his first year in Atlanta, Sydney has logged 28 tackles (one TFL), a pass defensed and a forced fumble.

Perhaps before they presumably meet to exchange jerseys after the game, the Brothers Brown, sons of Ontario, will collide in the middle of Madrid's famed Bernabéu. Hermano a hermano.