In the fourth quarter of the Cincinnati Bengals loss last Sunday to the New York Jets, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor asked wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase to do something Chase hadn’t done since middle school.
The Jets secondary played relaxed man-to-man coverage with a safety focused on Chase. That took away the opportunity for quarterback Joe Burrow to throw a deep ball to the Bengals top receiver. So Taylor called a new play that put the ball in Chase’s hands.
Chase lined up at running back, made his first NFL carry and picked up nine yards.
“We’ll be able to react accordingly when they try to take (the deep ball) away,” Taylor said.