CINCINNATI — If you want to win a bar bet tonight. Or tomorrow night. Or really any time before the rare feat happens again, ask any Cincinnati Bengals fan in the place this question:
Who was the last Bengals player to score a touchdown on his birthday before wide receiver Andrei Iosivas did it today in a 17-13 victory against the Seattle Seahawks in front of a crowd of 66,385 at Paycor Stadium?
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Who Was the Last Bengals Player To Score a Touchdown on His Birthday?
The answer is former offensive lineman Andrew Whitworth, who caught the only pass and scored the only touchdown of his 16-year, 239-game career on Dec. 12, 2010 — his 29th birthday — in a 23-7 loss at Pittsburgh.
Iosivas, a rookie sixth-rounder from Princeton, celebrated his 24th birthday by catching his second career pass and first career touchdown on a three-yard throw from Joe Burrow early in the second quarter to give the Bengals a 14-7 lead before the offense completely disappeared and managed just 88 yards in its last nine drives.
“This is the coolest birthday I’ve had since like the elementary school days,” said Iosivas, who grew up in Hawaii. “With the boys, just in the pool, pizza, cake. It doesn’t get better than that. Well, except for this.”
#Bengals WR Andrei Iosivas scores his 1st #NFL TD on his birthday! 🎉
How’s that for a bday present for the former @Princeton star? 🔥
pic.twitter.com/9rJLWH7yIi— Pro Football Network (@PFN365) October 15, 2023
The touchdown came on first-and-goal from the Seattle 3-yard line after everything was covered, and Iosivas broke off his route and followed Burrow’s roll-out direction to the near sideline.
For the second time in two games, Iosivas forgot about the significance of what he just accomplished. In Arizona last week, he recorded his first career reception and didn’t ask for the ball.
After scoring his first touchdown Sunday, he threw it down to go celebrate, only to hear groans from the fans thinking a flag on the play was against the Bengals and would negate the score.
“I threw the ball away, then me and Tee [Higgins] started dancing,” Iosivas said. “Completely forgot about the ball. With the crowd, I couldn’t hear anything the ref was saying. But the crowd seemed like it was on us, so I just kind of threw the ball away, thinking I had to go on to the next play.”
That’s when Burrow stepped in and regifted the present, retrieving the ball and handing it to Iosivas.
“Joe was nice enough to run and go get it for me,” Iosivas said. “I really appreciate that. He’s super thoughtful. He brought it to me, and I was like, ‘Oh, bro. Thank you so much.’ I completely forgot about it. I thanked him a couple of times.”
Head coach Zac Taylor appeared to say something to Burrow as he approached the sideline, and Burrow took off to get the ball. But Taylor said that’s not what he said and that it was all Burrow’s decision to go get the ball.
“I knew it was his first one,” Burrow said.
Bengals cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt also turned 24 Sunday, and while he didn’t score, he did corral his second career interception on a diving stab of a Geno Smith pass.
“We both got presents today,” Iosivas said. “Only I guess his came from the other quarterback.”
Iosivas is the ninth Bengals player in history to score a touchdown on his birthday. The seven who did it before Whitworth in 2010 were:
- Cedric Benson, Dec. 28, 2008, 28th birthday
- Rudi Johnson, Oct. 1, 2006, 26th
- Ki-Jana Carter, Sept. 12, 1999, 26th
- Jeff Blake, Dec. 4, 1994, 24th
- Eddie Brown (2), Dec. 17, 1989, 27th
- Boobie Clark, Nov. 8, 1976, 26th
- Essex Johnson, Oct. 15, 1972, 26th
That’s right, 51 years to the day after Johnson became the first Bengals player in history to score a touchdown on his birthday, Iosivas became the most recent.
League-wide, Iosivas is the 23rd rookie in the Super Bowl era to score a touchdown on his birthday and the second to do it at Paycor Stadium. Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson did it first on Sept. 14, 2017, on a 50-yard run in a 13-9 win against the Bengals on Thursday Night Football.
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