The Bengals-Chiefs game might not have the same glamour to it. Cincinnati is struggling with Joe Burrow out for the season. And KC, the defending Super Bowl champs, no longer is the best team in the AFC.
But Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase made sure to keep the rhetoric nice and spicy. In an interview with reporters this week, Chase basically called out the Chiefs secondary while touting how well he can play. The receiver still is dealing with a shoulder injury so it’s unclear whether he’ll play Sunday. However, that didn’t stop him stirring up the Kansas City secondary.
Here’s the overall flavor of what he said. A reporter asked Chase if anything stood out about the KC defensive backs.
“If I’m being honest, nothing,” said the former first-round draft pick and LSU standout, then he gave a more detailed response.
“They just know how to play us,” Chase said of the Chiefs. “They know their leverages, they know what splits we are in and they just know what we’re gonna do in certain moments. It’s not really like they got a Jalen Ramsey on their squad.”
Someone asked his opinion of Chiefs safety Bryan Cook, who played for the Cincinnati Bearcats. So there’s some local interest. Not with Chase.
“I don’t even know who that is,” the receiver said. “Is that No. 6? I don’t know, man. Just a guy to me. He ain’t (current Falcon and former Bengal) Jessie Bates to me. You want me to go (into) comparisons? It’s not the same. Just saying.”
“They know I’m good. They know how to play us,” Chase said of Kansas City’s secondary. “That’s what it is. But it’s not like they got a superstar on their defense.”
Bengals coach says Chiefs do ‘everything right way’
Bengals coach Zac Taylor stepped in Friday to mitigate some of the damage Chase might have caused.
“Ja’Marr is a confident guy and so I don’t want to (criticize),” Taylor said.. “Those are things I wouldn’t say. I think (the Chiefs are) one of the best defenses in the league. Players sometimes talk and get themselves riled up. So that’s how it goes. There’s certainly a balance there. Listen, I always want to be respectful of our opponent, especially an opponent like this that does things the right way. They’re very talented, they’re very well coached. They pose a lot of issues. (And) They’re a really good football team.”
You could say Chase is doing some unnecessary bragging. Because you’re not boasting if you can back it up. The receiver can shred the Chiefs secondary. In two regular season games, Chase has 18 catches for 363 yards and three touchdowns. He’s appeared in two playoff games against the Chiefs, both of them AFC title games. He’s caught 12 passes for 129 yards and a touchdown.
There is intention in Chase’s rhetoric game.
“I’m just adding fire to the fuel,” he said. “They’re going to take this, run with it. Hope they put it in their locker.”
In the days for the 2022 AFC title game, Bengals players proclaimed that Chiefs stadium should be renamed to Burrowhead. After winning the game, Chiefs superstar tight end Travis Kelce happily sought out a microphone to call out the Bengals.
Chase says he loves it all. “Hell yeah,” Chase said. “They talk the most s—.”
Here’s what’s riding on the game. The Chiefs (10-6) currently are the third seed with no chance at the top spot. Meanwhile, the Bengals at 8-7 face a must-win against the Chiefs. Next Gen Stats projects that a Cincinnati victory would give the Bengals a 58 percent chance of earning a post-season spot. But a loss drops them to an unlikely 7 percent.
More must-reads: