CINCINNATI — Standing in the locker room last week, he was days removed from his team’s 24-17 wild-card victory. Crows, Bengals Wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase He was praising coach Zach Taylor’s game plan, which moved him through different formations and led to 84 yards and 9 touchdowns.
“Zach did a great job last game, moved me around, kept me close to RPOs,” Chase said. “That was great. It was one of the best game plans he ever had.
It took just four days to slide up a notch in the chess rankings.
Taylor, offensive coordinator Brian Callahan, quarterbacks coach Dan Pitcher and offensive line coach Frank Pollack dished out what Chase in Sunday’s 27-10 class-round destruction of bills It was nothing new, but it was repetitive.
And the results were definitely there.
There were nine plays — including four of the first 12 — in which Chase spent time in the offensive backfield before losing. Sometimes he started there and moved. He stayed a while. Usually he starts in the slot and drops to the orbiter from the quarterback Joe Burrow And any running back was in the game, forcing defenses into difficult adjustments that often resulted in fumbles and, occasionally, fatalities.
“Sometimes you change the intensity of the pass with him in the backfield, so they have decisions to make on how they want to handle that,” Taylor said. “Sometimes it prevents matches. Sometimes it can bother you.
Sunday at Highmark Stadium, the Accounts It was mostly chaotic.
In nine snaps with Chase in the backfield, the Bengals have gained 107 yards on an impressive 11.9 carries.
Four of those were passes, with Burrow completing four for 66 yards, including a 28-yard touchdown to Chase to cap the opening drive.
In the five-run game, Joe Mixon He had three carries for 31 yards; Samaje Perineum One for seven and one for three chess.
Former Bengals quarterback and QB School founder JT O’Sullivan said, “This movement is about people with middle fingers.” During the breakdown of the game movie On the QB School YouTube Channel.
“That’s beautiful. It means art. World-class offensive build,” O’Sullivan continued as he broke through the formation that created a 16-yarder, the longest of the day, by Mixon.
Let’s look at each of the nine plays in detail.
Play 1: First-and-10, Cincinnati 32, 13:45 left in first quarter (third play of game).
Chase goes from right to left in orbit, leaving no receiver on the right side of the formation. He sits at 28 in the plate as a swing option, drawing coverage from the Bills linebacker. Tremaine Edmonds. But the Burrow strikes. Tyler BoydWho works with release switch T. HigginsFor a 23-yard gain on a corner route, putting the Bengals in Buffalo territory.
Game 2: Second-and-3, Buffalo 28, 11:48 left in first quarter (sixth play of game).
Chase starts in the backfield and moves to the left slot.
The bills are play zone, and Chase and tight end. Hayden Hurst. Set in the zone, Hurst over the middle of the plate and Chase 5 yards downfield. When Burrow feels pressure from the left edge, he steps out of the pocket and two Buffalo defenders wait for a Hurst check. Chase turns around and goes to center field and is wide open when he catches the ball in the 9th.
“It was a nice little package,” Pitcher said.
3: Second-and-5, Cincinnati 33, 9:24 left in first quarter (eighth play of game).
Chase Nickell lined up in the left slot before running around behind the Burrow, pulling the corner. Johnson Conference When the two linebackers slide left into the box, the middle of the defense is open.
Right fitting Hakeem Adeniji He pulls and destroys Johnson, giving Micco a huge gap to pass for a 16-yard gain.
“I’m not a defensive aficionado, but I can tell you I’m not going to run over my nickel DB to fill the B slot,” O’Sullivan said. “All this action says swing screen, swing screen, swing screen, so the linebackers run up there and run the run, this nickel by NFL Hold the wrap for you.
“If defenses are going to put two safeties up, that nickel has a lot of responsibility,” the pitcher said. “And Buffalo doesn’t play base defense, so it doesn’t matter who you put on the field, that nickel is there and they’re going to ask him to do a lot. With this we were able to get into some important areas.
It was one of five runs (including a 21-yard fumble by Burrow) that went for 10 or more yards Sunday, two of which came out of the package against Chase in the backfield.
Play 4: First-and-10, Buffalo 30, 6:48 left in first quarter (12th play of game).
The least productive play of the bunch, Chase runs behind the bullpen and takes it 7 yards deep behind the line. He tries to block before turning downfield, but the play goes too long and only goes for 3 yards.
It’s a reminder of why Taylor and the rest of the staff waited to lean more toward using Chase in the backfield after starting to settle with him last season.
“The first time we played Baltimore, we didn’t put us in a big position,” Taylor said, referring to the second-and-12 game in Week 5 this year in which Chase and Mixon Burrow played against Chase in the shotgun. Taking the hand and stretching it wide from the inside, which results in no gain.
Go deeper
The Bengals’ offensive line had to be held accountable. So how do you handle the bills?
The Bengals had a pair of similar losses in the same series two weeks ago Jets. On the first play of the drive, Chase lined up in the slot and took a Jets sweep for a 1-yard loss. On fourth-and-1 at the Jets 19 on the 11th play, Chase lined up in the left slot and ran an orbital motion behind Burrow, taking the field 7 yards from the line of scrimmage and failing to reach the marker. , loss of premises for a rotation on downloads.
But Taylor, convinced of the plan, continued to add to it.
“There’s a first part of the package that has a reason to do it, and there are things you have to carry to complement that,” Taylor said. “Sometimes you get it, sometimes you don’t. Whether we carry that every week or not, whether it gives us an advantage or not, their presence on defense is more dictated by the scheme. But the starting point is that we always think we can stress them out that way and then you have to build and be ready for some of the adjustments they make. There’s a lot that goes into it.”
Game 5: First-and-10, Cincinnati 25, 7:25 left in second quarter.
It was the first play on the drive after a Buffalo touchdown that cut Cincinnati’s lead to 14-7. Chase and Perrin flank Buron in the shotgun.
Burrow changes the play, and Chase moves into the right slot, Higgins slides further to the right and Perry slides to Burrow’s left.
Burrow looks for Chase over the middle, but he’s covered by Johnson, so he looks to Perrine for 4 yards.
Play 6: Second-and-1, Buffalo 26, 4:02 left in second quarter.
Chase and Perrin again line up on Burrow’s side, the ball being snapped, sending Chase behind him in motion to the left.
For another large piece, pull the arms into the middle of the perineum. Perry gets 5 or 6 yards without a touchdown and ends up with a 7 gain.
“It’s tough because if you’re trying to do any kind of double play or anything like that, now you have to add the element of, ‘What if he lines up in the backfield?’ Normally, that changes the coverage because you don’t want to double the guy in the backfield, generally speaking, those guys aren’t on the deep route. So now it’s all about being under or giving the ball away and so on. You’re just trying to plan to say, ‘OK, we’re going to double him on this play.’ If so, it adds another layer to your setup.Generally, okay, you don’t talk about him when he’s in the backfield.
Play 7: Second and 10, Buffalo 20, 3:22 left in second quarter.
That’s just two plays after Perine’s 7-yard gain, and the Bengals are right there again.
Chase is in the left slot and the orbit behind the formation. Johnson followed.
Hands free for Mixon who runs into the space released by the slot corner for a 6 gain.
The Bengals move into the red zone and finally start to get one Evan McPherson field goal to take a 17-7 lead into halftime.
Play 8: First-and-10, Cincinnati 38, 6:27 left in third quarter.
Chase starts in the correct slot. He moved to the back field to the left of Buro Trayveon Williams It is on the right.
Buffalo will not change its lineup.
Chase goes on the move behind Burrow, who hits him for a screen 5 yards from the line and turns it into a 12-yard gain.
“There are some different types of packages,” Taylor said. “Some games are just over, some games are not. He’s proven to us that he has the ability to understand wherever we want to put him, and he’s able to hold the bubble and make people miss and just get the first step out of anything. That’s the tool we got with Jamar. So you have to be creative and find ways to use it.
9 Play: First-and-10, 50-yard line, 15:00 left in the fourth quarter.
Chase is in the left slot and walks behind the bullpen. Johnson, slot corner, goes with him.
Mixon ran into Johnson again for a 9-yard gain and a nine-play, 61-yard gain that ended with a McPherson field goal to increase the lead to 27-all. 10.
With the wrinkle, the Bengals, who are nearing 400-yards, will be eclipsed on their next series. With 412, it is the second most in franchise history, just behind the 439 they posted in 2013 with a wild card loss. Chargers.
Chase finished with five catches for 61 yards and a touchdown (with a 10-yard touchdown replay reversed), plus several more fumbles created by moves and timing in the backfield.
“Sometimes you get into a roll like that and maybe it’s called twice, and sometimes it’s successful early and it’s called a lot,” the pitcher said. I think Zach will do a good job looking at how the defense is adjusting and seeing what’s working right now.
And on Sunday, everything was working. Burrow was accurate and distributed the ball to everyone. The line, along with three new starters, stood up. And the running game was efficient and explosive. When this happens, the opposing defensive coordinator basically throws up his hands and is at a loss for what to do.
“When you spread the ball around to all kinds of different guys and we have a lot of different tools, everybody feels a part of it,” Pitcher said. “We’re taking first downs and first downs, it just builds confidence and motivation and you can feel the frustration and frustration on the defensive end. It’s a game that plays with people’s emotions, and there are moments in the game where you definitely get that from your opponent.”
(Photo: Brian M. Bennett / Getty Images)