The Cincinnati Bengals waited five weeks for a team to double-team wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase with a safety over the top in the back of the defense.
After Chase made deep receptions in the first five games of the season, he said he was wondering when he’d receive that level of attention. The Detroit Lions gave Chase that respect, and the Bengals still found a way to get Chase four catches for 97 yards, including two deep receptions down the field.
“Joe Burrow did a really good job of staying patient,” head coach Zac Taylor said. “When they finally gave us the opportunities, he took them.”
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In the Bengals win on Sunday, they saw a couple different coverages than they have seen this season. And Cincinnati tweaked a few pieces of the offense to score more than 30 points for the first time this season.
Here are Burrow’s five most interesting plays from the Week 6 win.
1. Third and 9 from the Bengals 40-yard line; 11:26 left in the first quarter. Burrow completes a 14-yard pass to wide receiver Tee Higgins.
As the Bengals expected when they drafted Chase, Higgins benefited the most from the attention the Lions gave Chase.
On the first third down of the game, the Lions played with two high safeties. One of them shadowed to Chase’s side of the field to double-team him, and the other stayed over the middle to double-team wide receiver Tyler Boyd.
That left Higgins in one-on-one coverage with just one defensive back on the right side of the field. Higgins faked a deep route to gain inside leverage, and he was wide open when he broke toward the middle of the field.
2. Third and 3 from the Bengals 46-yard line; 13:12 left in the third quarter. Burrow scrambles for a five-yard pickup.
Burrow had five rushes for 20 yards on Sunday, but this one was his most impressive. The Lions used a delayed blitz and tried to pressure Burrow from the right side. Boyd was Burrow’s first read on the play on a 3-yard comeback route, and the Lions double-teamed Boyd on the far right side of the field.
As a result, there wasn’t anyone over the middle.
When two Lions pass rushers attempted to swat the ball out of Burrow’s hands, Burrow ducked underneath them and ran to the open part of the field for the first down.
The Lions clearly weren’t expecting Burrow to run when they dropped all of their defensive backs past the first down line. Burrow found the weak spot of the Lions defense, and his athleticism has given the Bengals another option on third down all season.
3. Fourth and 1 from the Lions 40-yard line; Burrow completes a pass to Joe Mixon for a touchdown.
Taylor clearly has a favorite call in the playbook. This was the same play he used for touchdowns in big moments twice last season against the Cleveland Browns. This was also the play he called on 4th down to beat the Minnesota Vikings this season.
It had a different wrinkle to it this time. Usually, Boyd motions into the backfield on the play action pass. This time, Boyd was an option for Burrow over the slot, and Higgins was the receiver in motion.
When the Lions recognized the play, they sent two defenders to guard tight end Drew Sample. Burrow threw the ball to the tight end when they ran this play against the Vikings, but this time Sample stayed back to block.
No one guarded Mixon, who caught the ball at the first down line and ran to the end zone. What makes this play so effective is that they’ve run it for both the tight end and for Mixon, and Boyd, Higgins and Chase have also been options on this play.
At the end of the third quarter, when Burrow completed a 53-yard pass to Chase, they ran a similar concept with Boyd motioning into the backfield and Burrow running a play action pass with running back Chris Evans.
4. Second and 4 from the Lions 47; 5:14 left in the third quarter. Burrow completes a 23-yard pass for Tee Higgins.
The Bengals put more of an emphasis on the play action passing game on Sunday than they had in any game this season.
On this third quarter drive, the Bengals wore down the Lions defense with five consecutive runs. The Bengals usually throw the ball when Burrow lines up in a shotgun formation, and Burrow lined up in shotgun formation on this play. But since the Bengals were running the ball well, the Lions still lined up with seven defenders in the box.
When Burrow faked a handoff to Evans, the Lions sent an eighth defender near the line of scrimmage. Meanwhile, Burrow held onto the ball as three wide receivers sprung open over the middle of the field. There was only one defender within five yards of Higgins, who made the easy catch for the first down.
5. Third and goal at the Detroit 2-yard line; Burrow completes a touchdown throw to C.J. Uzomah.
Tight end C.J. Uzomah is in the conversation for most improved player on the Bengals. He has already tied his career-high with three touchdowns. Before this season, he had never had more than 7 yards per target over a full season. This year, he’s averaging 10.3 yards per target.
His physicality and contested catch skills have helped the Bengals in the red zone. On third down near the goal line, after Uzomah released from his block on a play action pass, Uzomah was Burrow’s third read on the play. Burrow lobbed a fade across his body toward the left side of the end zone, and Uzomah made a leaping grab to catch the pass at its high point.
“C.J. is playing with a lot of confidence,” Taylor said. “You've really seen him since that Jacksonville game, ramping it up to a new level.”
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