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Bengals aftermath: Inside perspective on Ja'Marr Chase, late flag and more vs. Chiefs

17 September 2024Last Update :
Bengals aftermath: Inside perspective on Ja'Marr Chase, late flag and more vs. Chiefs

The comments sections and airwaves were humming Monday.

Everyone was talking about the latest classic in the Cincinnati Bengals–Kansas City Chiefs rivalry that’s been laced with controversy and buzzworthy NFL topics since it first took center stage in the 2021 season.

From Ja’Marr Chase’s outburst to every element of fourth-and-16 to personnel decisions on the offense and a highlight for the ages, everybody has an opinion.

Here’s my view from the ground floor in Kansas City on Sunday to the conversations inside Paycor Stadium on Monday.

Stop making excuses for Ja’Marr Chase

As the reaction moved forward and the conversation turned to Chase’s outburst and unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that changed the shape of the fourth quarter, a fair number of fans came to Chase’s defense.

They wanted to know what the official said to Chase. Did the official cross the line? Did he bait him and set off the second and third wave of Chase’s tantrum?

Stop it.

It doesn’t matter what the official said, to be honest, no player can tie himself into such a fit of rage as to be unable to contain himself and not put the team first.

What Chase did in that critical moment was inexcusable no matter what the official said. Full stop.

“Obviously, that’s not something we can have,” coach Zac Taylor said. “It takes us out of a third-and-6, third-and-7 to a third-and-long where we’re just trying to get back into field goal range to ensure the kick at that point. That’s not what we’re about. Those are things we have avoided in the past and something we’ve got to rectify.”

Taylor pointed out after the game and again Monday that Chase’s competitiveness and passion on the field are not something he would like to tame. He’s had to “rip him” before for taunting penalties, specifically against Kansas City, but this was different. This was an unhinged conscious decision to go back after the official when that official was trying to give him some time to return to the huddle.

His frustration was about more than something an official said, a hip-drop tackle, a contract or anything else. It appeared to be about a combination of all of it.

Guess what? So what.

The time on the field can’t be about that. It needs to be about his teammates. That’s been exactly the case for most of Chase’s career. That’s why this was such a shocking moment. It brought back memories of Vontaze Burfict and Adam Jones during the Meltdown at Paul Brown.

Like those two, Chase should expect fines just as a double-down supporting the crew came from the head of officials Monday.

Those times were supposed to be long gone. Grace under pressure, focus through adversity and situational awareness have been calling cards of many significant Bengals wins in recent seasons. These are areas they preach and take pride in under Taylor.

“That’s the competitiveness that I want from him and we feed off of that — it’s just managing it the right way,” Taylor said.

This was not that. The Bengals are making no excuses for it and people should stop bending over backward to make them elsewhere.

The pass interference flag

Guys like Daijahn Anthony are part of why I love this business. Seventh-round pick, a great person, genuine, appears to be kind to others, admirable work ethic, big smile, earns a spot in camp and proves wrong everyone who passed on him nearly the entire draft.

For that reason, watching him writhing in the aftermath of fourth-and-16 was hard to stomach. It’s also the NFL.

Anthony was put in that position by defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, who expressed little regret for the move. They feel Anthony has proved a steal late in the draft and loved the way he played as he earned more opportunities through the offseason and camp.

Should he have been in there?

Anarumo said it partially came down to the decimation of the defensive line. With B.J. Hill and Sheldon Rankins injured and a half-dozen defensive linemen out, he had to make a call on whether to put a fourth rusher on the field, which would have been one of his gassed defensive tackles, or another defensive back with fresh legs.

Had Rankins or Hill been healthy, Anthony very likely wouldn’t have been out there, but in that situation, he was the choice in the drop-eight scheme Anarumo loves to play on third- or fourth-and-long plays.

Anarumo said he’d make the call “100 out of 100” times even though this one will “haunt us.”

We just came off the season of rookie defensive back growing pains and hearing about how those mistakes will pay off down the line but usually can’t be avoided. Anarumo knew there was risk in giving Anthony this role, but he believed in what he was seeing and, in many ways, these are the players he was given. Putting him in for that moment — and the illegal contact that wiped out a DJ Turner interception — is where they hoped the risk didn’t burn them.

It did.

I know there’s plenty of discussing the validity of the fourth-and-16 flag and there’s obvious ambiguity there in terms of the rights of the defensive player to also go after the ball and the Hail Mary nature of it all. Anarumo and Taylor referred to it as a “bang-bang” play Monday, not wanting to go much deeper, for obvious reasons.

That was a tough judgment call in the moment because Anthony was going through the receiver’s back early. It’s also a flag the Bengals allowed the official to throw by not putting the Chiefs away when they could.

In three possessions in the final quarter, the Bengals went fumble-field goal-punt with a total of four first downs and then lost by 1 point.

The best way to beat the Chiefs is to end the game taking a knee. They could have done it but didn’t. I imagine that was in Joe Burrow’s head as he threw his helmet after the flag hit the ground.

This loss wasn’t about the officials. It wasn’t about Anthony being in the game. Not when a scoop-and-score fumble, three drops, a missed extra point and empty fourth-quarter possessions were all part of the equation. Blaming the officials in this case is lazy. The blame should be pointed at the mistakes made to allow an official to decide the game.

Three quick hits

1. The shift to giving Zack Moss 80 percent of the snaps versus 20 percent for Chase Brown was the most surprising personnel move Sunday.

The impression of a true split was the messaging leading into the season and it was much closer in the opener. Getting to that heavy of a workload for Moss misses the original purpose of having two styles of backs.

Also of note, Brown has seven carries for 42 yards (6.0 yards per carry) as opposed to 21 for 78 for Moss (3.7). Brown also posted a 71.4 percent successful run rate compared with 38.1 percent for Moss. Small sample alert here, of course, but it would make sense to see Brown’s workload increase.

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2. The 47-yard bomb to Jermaine Burton could end up one of the most critical throws of the season. Not because of Burrow’s 40 air yards putting many wrist conversations to bed, but because that’s exactly the type of play that boosts the motivation and focus of rookies yearly.

You just need that first taste. The taste of making a big play. The taste of earning the QB’s trust. The taste of seeing work in practice and meeting rooms pay off Sunday.

Burton can be an incredible asset for the offense if he can do all the little things during the week to build confidence in his performance on the weekend. He has been doing that and it was rewarded hugely.

The tone of the conversation around him suggests the tide is turning ever so slightly for the third-rounder.

“There was that moment you make that play and you are genuinely really happy for him making that play because to an extent it takes the pressure off,” Taylor said. “It’s your first big play in an NFL game, and you’ve waited for that moment. He’s put in the work, and he’ll continue to build off that, and our confidence in him will continue to grow.”

3. That ridiculous interception by Cam Taylor-Britt is exactly the type of play that lands Pro Bowl berths. Taylor-Britt has a desire to land in the shutdown corner conversation and be viewed as one of the best in the league. Making a pick that will be replayed on every highlight show on NFL Network all season sure doesn’t hurt. Nor does doing it in the late TV window against Patrick Mahomes.

Loved Taylor-Britt talking about it being the exact route he got beaten on for the touchdown earlier, but he made the in-game adjustment so the mistake wouldn’t happen again. Tested it, and the rest is highlight history.

(Photo: Kevin Sabitus / Getty Images)

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