Rookie receiver Chase is setting a record pace
Ja’Marr Chase is catching passes at a record pace and leaving defensive backs frustrated and embarrassed along the way.
The Cincinnati Bengals rookie wide receiver has 754 yards receiving, the most by a player through his first seven NFL games. Chase, the fifth overall pick in the NFL draft in April, has 35 catches and leads the league with six receptions of at least 40 yards.
“He’s kind of been this good from the jump,” said quarterback Joe Burrow,
who won a national championship at LSU with Chase in January 2020. “He has more games in the offense and more reps accumulated. Other than that, he’s just getting better and better.”
Chase sliced through Baltimore’s defense last week, catching eight passes for 201 yards and a touchdown in Cincinnati’s 41-17 rout that put the Bengals (5-2) in a tie with the Ravens atop the AFC North.
Next up is the Jets (1-5) who have struggled against the pass – they rank 25th – and could be in for a long day at MetLife Stadium trying to keep pace with Chase.
“Obviously, he’s one of the best deep threats,” rookie cornerback Brandin Echols said. “As a team, we just want to control the big shots.” Good luck with that. Chase, selected the AFC’s offensive player of the week, is tied for second in the NFL with 13 receptions of at least 20 yards. He has turned an already solid offense into one of the most exciting in the league, teaming with wide receivers Tyler Boyd and Tee Higgins,
running back Joe Mixon
and tight end C.J. Uzomah to create matchup nightmares for defenses.
“This receiving corps, without question, is very, very talented,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said. “It’s their third year in the system and Ja’Marr has really unlocked the entire group – the tight end, the running back, Boyd, Higgins. It’s talented. And they’re playing very, very fast.”
BIG BEN VS. BROWNS
The last time Ben Roethlisberger played the Browns, his night began with a frantic chase after the ball was snapped over his head into the end zone. He ended it sitting on the bench contemplating his future.
On Sunday, the Steelers quarterback returns to the rivalry he tilted decidedly for nearly two decades.
“It will be fun,” Big Ben said. “And, it’s Halloween.”
That’s a little scary. There’s already plenty of bad blood.
The Steelers (3-3) swear they won’t have vengeance in mind as much as keeping their season rolling in the right direction when they face the Browns (4-3), who put an exclamation point on their turnaround in January by winning at Pittsburgh in the playoffs.
Cleveland’s wild, 48-37 wild-card victory – a game quarantined Browns coach Kevin Stefanski watched from his home basement after a positive COVID-19 test – was the Browns’ first in the postseason since 1994 and seemed to signal that one of pro football’s fiercest football feuds was evening out some.
And although he’s 242-1 against the Browns since 2004, Roethlisberger, who grew up in Ohio and is nearing the end of his Hall of Fame career, feels his personal record doesn’t reflect the permanent competitiveness in the ClevelandPittsburgh series.
“I don’t know this rivalry ever went away,” he said. “Rivalries are great.”