The talk around Paycor Stadium this week is of the Triple Crown as well as the Steelers.
Like Carl Yastrzemski in the Impossible Dream season on the baseball diamond of 1967 and Secretariat thundering down the stretch at the 1973 Belmont, it looks like Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase has clear sailing on the NFL field of 2024.
Joe Burrow, his good friend and personal quarterback, knows the numbers heading into Saturday's game (8 p.m.-Cincinnati's Channel 9, ESPN) in Pittsburgh.
"Make sure he gets it," Burrow said with a glint in his eye during Tuesday's post-practice presser. "I think a couple of (categories) are pretty out of reach for everybody else. I think he's got a seven- or eight-catch lead."
Right you are, Joe Lee.
Chase has 117 catches, eight more than Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. He's got 133 more yards than their great and good LSU chum, Justin Jefferson, of the Vikings. And four more touchdowns than St. Brown and Washington's Terry McLaurin.
Chase and Burrow are trying to keep their sixth remarkable year together going in a run that includes All-Americas, national titles, Heismans, Biletnikoffs, Super Bowl berths, division titles, Pro Bowls.
"He works for it. He grinds for it. He's a once-in-a-lifetime-type player and our careers will forever be tied together from college into the pro landscape," Burrow said. "That's just fun to be a part of."
If there was a Triple Crown for quarterbacks, Burrow thinks it should consist of yards, touchdowns, and completion percentage.
He's got good leads on two of them with 42 touchdown passes to the 39 of the Ravens' Lamar Jackson and the Buccaneers' Baker Mayfield, as well as a 243-yard lead on Detroit's Jared Goff. But he's got a long climb in completion percentage.
Burrow is a very good 69.8, but has four guys in front of him: The Dolphins' Tua Tagovailoa (72.9), Mayfield and Goff (71.7), and Seattle's Geno Smith (70.2).
But Burrow has been good enough to remain the all-time completion percentage leader with 68.4 to Tagovailoa's 68.1.
Passer rating determines the passing champion and Jackson has that sewn up with 121.6, barely off Aaron Rodgers' record of 122.5 set in 2011. Goff is also ahead of Burrow at 113.6. Burrow is third at 109.8, which would break his Bengals record of 108.3 in 2021.
IRON MIKE
No one knows a Bengals-Steelers game like Cincinnati slot cornerback Mike Hilton.
He's played in 14 of them, seven for each side, and won nine of them. He knows exactly what Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin is preaching this week. Even if the Ravens wrap up the AFC North with a win over the Browns before Saturday's nightcap, Hilton expects the Steelers' full measure even though they're in even if they lose to the Bengals.
"It's going to be a bloodbath," Hilton said after Tuesday's practice. "One team is in the playoffs. We're fighting for our playoff lives, so it's going to be fireworks.
"If I know (Tomlin) he's talking to the guys right now and getting them fired up before Saturday. We expect to be challenged. All their guys are going to be going. They're on a three-game skid right now. I'm sure they want to catch some momentum in the playoffs."
MORE IRON MIKE
And no one knows this Bengals defense better than Hilton.
Since coming over from Pittsburgh for the 2021 season, he has been one of the faces of it. He's such a constant image, Hilton and safety Vonn Bell take turns running the players-only secondary meetings on off days, a ritual that grew out of the first playoff run in 2021.
Hilton became one of defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo's core players while enhancing his rep as one of the best slot cornerbacks in the game and took it to the next level with brilliant playoff performances.
This season, his fourth with the Bengals and ninth in the league, has been a time of transition. Hilton has rarely been on the field on third down. While injuries rocked the front line and secondary, the Bengals lost four games in which they scored 33 points or more.
The last time was four weeks ago in a 44-38 loss to the Steelers at Paycor. Since then, the Bengals have won four straight during a stretch they lead the league with 12 turnovers and are third in opponent passer rating. It was about that time, coming out of the bye into the Pittsburgh game, the Bengals tweaked it a bit.
"Lou has simplified things. Kind of made guys settle down. Really just know their jobs and go out there and make plays. Obviously, the last month we're playing a lot better," Hilton said.
"Usually what happens, there are two calls when there's motion," Hilton said. "Now there's one call. Just line up, know your assignment, know your matchup."
Hilton says that hasn't cut down on what they can use. By week 18, it's all on tape, anyway, he says. And he says it's not rocket science what they have to do Saturday after Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson check-downed to the second-best game of his career with 414 yards passing.
A total of 22 of Wilson's completions went to tight ends and running backs for 245 yards as Pro Football Focus had the Bengals for 14 missed tackles.
"He was outside the pocket. That's what he's done his whole career," Hilton said. "He's a Hall of Fame quarterback throwing for 450 on us and made us look real bad.
"Guys are playing better. I think we'll be locked in," said Hilton of stopping the underneath stuff. "Just being tighter. The checkdown can be three, four, five yards. We need to limit that. Can't miss any tackles and we have to get hats to the football."
It turns out that Hilton believes he's playing his best ball of the season at the same time his defense is. Maybe it's no coincidence. Long believed to be one of the best blitzers in the game (Hilton says he's the best), Anarumo has unleashed him since the bye, Hilton says, and he has been a scourge.
In the last four games, Hilton has 22 tackles working mostly on first and second downs. Five for loss, as many in that stretch as feared quarterback stuffers up front such as Nick Bosa, Cam Jordan and Leonard Williams. And one fewer than T.J. Watt.
And even when those blitzes don't get there, they've altered a spate of plays.
"Those (blitzes) are called. A lot more than early in the year," Hilton said. "I think that's why my play has risen. I've been able to make a lot of plays. Lou is just opening me up and made me who I am."
Hilton estimates he blitzed two or three times against Washington rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels in the third game of the year, when Daniels completed 91.3% of his passes in the Bengals' 38-33 loss. Hilton thinks he did that on the first series against Denver rookie quarterback Bo Nix in a game the Bengals held the Broncos to six yards on six overtime snaps.
"Knowing the cadence. just me honing into my framework. Just learning the framework,' said Hilton, whose goal is to time a blitz so well he swipes a handoff. "What I do, nobody else can do. I feel like I bring a lot of value to the team."
SLANTS AND SCREENS
Hilton is certainly valued by the local media. On Tuesday, Mike Petraglia, head of the Cincinnati chapter of the Pro Football Writers, went to Hilton's locker and presented him with the 2024 Media Cooperation Award.
"Mike Hilton's willingness to always be available and professional with the media after wins, difficult losses, and during the week makes him a fitting selection for this honor," said Petraglia, the veteran scribe who has covered both Tom Brady and Joe Burow on a daily basis …
Which brought up Hilton's status as he heads into the last game of his contract year. On Tuesday, even though it's been four years ago, he's still salty about the Steelers letting him go. "They didn't want me".
So he sees himself as a Bengal, as does everybody else. His red-zone interception of Ryan Tannehill in the AFC Divisional in Tennessee in 2021 and his eight tackles and two hits of Josh Allen in the next AFC Divisional in snowy Buffalo are etched in Bengaldom.
Hilton, 30, isn't sure what's next.
"I would love to finish my career here," Hilton said. "In this business, you never know when. When the time comes, we'll figure it out." …
If you want to know the status of running back Chase Brown (ankle), right tackle Amarius Mims (hand), and left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. (leg), check back later in the week because head coach Zac Taylor had nothing Tuesday. The injury report isn't much to go on because it was an estimation of a walkthrough.
Chase Brown is listed as did not practice while Mims and Orlando Brown Jr. went as limited …
Orlando Brown Jr. played all 90 snaps last Saturday as they monitor his fibula …
Defensive tackle Kris Jenkins (knee) was limited …
So were Burrow (wrist/knee) and wide receiver Tee Higgins (ankle/knee), which is how they went most of last week. Higgins was even considered questionable heading into Denver even though Taylor indicated he was good to go. And he was with 131 yards and three touchdowns …
