When it comes to a breakdown by opponents, Bengals three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase has amassed his most regular-season yards against the Ravens. But he came into Sunday's game at Paycor Stadium with high regard for the secondary of the NFL's 13th best defense.
The heated rivalry showed up really heated Sunday as one of the hottest games in Paycor history. With the kickoff temperature in Cincinnati projected at 81 degrees, that would make it tied for the building's sixth hottest game. The last time it hit that high was the 2021 season opener, one of the longest games in Bengals history that they won with five seconds left in overtime on Evan McPherson's field goal.
Chase, on pace for nearly 1,300 yards this season, isn't fooled by Baltimore's 29th ranking against the pass. That's what happens when you're ranked one against the run.
"I feel everyone on their defense is pretty versatile," Chase said last week. "Everybody can move, everybody can play nickel, everybody can play safety, a little bit of corner. They do a lot of re-routing, a lot of bumping."
Although Chase averages 82 yards per game against Baltimore for a total of 505, the bulk of them came three years ago during his rookie year. He followed up a 201-yarder, the second-best of his career, with 125 yards in the series sweep.
Chase is still looking for another 100-yarder against them, although his 86 yards on eight catches and a touchdown were huge in the 2022 regular-season finale that locked up a home Wild Card Game. He knows it's going to be physical and expects a lot of attention from Pro Bowler Roquan Smith and his corps of linebackers.
"Spot dropping," Chase said. "Say I'm running down the seam, running down the middle, they'll have a linebacker spot drop. Push me out to the flat route and re-route me. That's what we call re-routing. That's what they do with their ends, their corners, their safeties, a lot of that. And they're just a handsy team."
Chase needs five games with at least 100 receiving yards to join former Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green on an elite list with his 20th career 100-yarder. Green (20), Chase college chum Justin Jefferson (29) and Randy Moss (23) are the only receivers with 20 games of 100 yards in their first four seasons.
For just the third time in his four Bengals seasons, slot cornerback Mike Hilton (knee) is inactive. The possibility emerged Saturday when slot cornerback Jalen Davis was elevated from the practice squad, and he'll play in his 51st game as a Bengal and first this season.
The move opens up a slew of possibilities in the slot that haven't been there behind Hilton in previous years, ranging from Davis, to rookie cornerback Josh Newton, to the top three outside cornerbacks who have shown the ability to move inside: Cam Taylor-Britt, Dax Hill and DJ Turner. All three were announced as starters. So was rookie defensive tackle Kris Jenkins Jr. in his first NFL start.
Also inactive are defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins (ruled out Friday), wide receiver Trenton Irwin and tight ends Tanner Hudson and Tanner McLachlan.
The Bengals defensive line gets reinforcments this week, as B.J. Hill returns at defensive tackle, rookie defensive tackle McKinnley Jackson makes his NFL debut and edge Myles Murphy makes his season debut as both come off injured reserve. Rookie defensive end Cedric Johnson returned to the inactive list after playing the last two weeks.
LASER FOCUS
Tee Higgins, Chase's running mate at wide receiver, was the target on the game's biggest play last year at Paycor. On the first drive of the second half, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, from the Ravens 17, saw Higgins over the middle at the 2 with what could have been the go-ahead touchdown in a game the Bengals trailed, 13-10.
But Ravens safety Geno Stone cut in front for a 36-yard interception return and two minutes later Baltimore was up, 20-10.
Now, Stone is a Bengal, and he and Higgins don't mind going at it about that play now.
"I tell him all the time, 'You screwed up my touchdown,'" Higgins said last week. "He says, 'I baited Joe on that one.' Whatever, he's on our team now. We joke about it all the time."
Higgins says there's not much Stone can tell him about the Baltimore defense.
"I've been playing against them going on five years," Higgins said. "I haven't asked him, but I'm sure he'd help me if I asked. That was a long time ago. I've played so many games since then … I'm looking at this one. It's a big game and I'm excited it's here."
Chase's focus is in the same direction for the Bengals' first AFC North game of the year and not the 1-3 start.
"We got our first win. I think we'll move forward and be productive about that and not going to look back," Chase said.
SLANTS AND SCREENS
It looks like Bengals safety Tycen Anderson has picked up close to where he left off when his promising 2023 season was snuffed out at the halfway point with a knee injury.
He was racking up Pro Bowl-like production with eight tackles on special teams in the first seven games, and now he's got three in the first four games. With rookie punter Ryan Rehkow leading the league in everything but punts to qualify, Anderson admits the juices are jangling as one of the gunners covering punts.
"I've never played with a guy who hits it 80 yards. He's a beast. I'm looking for those plays to change the momentum of the game," said Anderson, who did just that last Sunday in Carolina by helping fellow gunner Daijahn Anthony and Rehkow pin the Panthers inside the 10 with less than five minutes left.
"Flipping the field. That's what it's all about. Nothing has really changed, but knowing you've got a guy that can hit it 80 yards, I know I have to be on my best to help him flip the field even more." …
Burrow's bid to become the first Bengals quarterback to open a season without throwing an interception in the first four games went right up to the end in Carolina when his next-to-last pass of the day got picked. He scrambled out of the pocket, saw Chase breaking into an opening, but the pass went one way and Chase went another.
"We talked about it and wouldn't change anything about it," Chase said. "I was going to an open void and that's how we want to work it." …
