Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase Continue to Be One of NFL's Most Exciting Duos in 2021
Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase have a chemistry unlike many others on the field. They showed while suiting up at LSU during that 2019 season and the duo is now setting records on a weekly basis in the NFL.
On Sunday, Burrow and Chase were hug pieces to a 41-17 statement win for the Cincinnati Bengals over the Baltimore Ravens. Burrow tossed for 416 yards and three touchdowns while Chase hauled in eight receptions for 201 yards and a touchdown.
The lone touchdown the two hooked up for was an 82-yarder, the longest of the season with the rookie Chase showing why he's the runaway favorite for Offensive Rookie of the Year. Chase has an NFL record 754 yards for the Bengals, the most ever by any player in NFL history through his first seven games.
One of the goals for Burrow heading into this season was becoming a quarterback who could make those explosive plays down field and the drafting of Chase was supposed to really help. Of the six touchdowns the two have connected on through seven games, five of them have come on plays of 30 yards or more.
"We have a lot of reps acculimated over the last three or four years," Burrow said after the game. "We've been together a long time, I've been throwing to Ja'Marr on Saturdays since I was 21 years old. That's what happens when you get all those reps, you understand the kind of throws against leverage. We've thrown back shoulders for three years, over and over and over again. That's what it takes."
What was even more impressive was Chase was lined up in one-on-one coverage with Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey, who is one of the best in the game and Humphrey couldn't cover him. That just helped the Bengals offense have even more of a flow down the stretch as Chase couldn't be left on an island.
"Ja'Marr did a great job against him today, there were multiple times he got that guy one-on-one and won that matchup," Burrow said.
