Part of the reason the Cincinnati Bengals have been able to stay afloat at 3-3 during a slow start is the play of Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase.
Too obvious, perhaps, so let’s add to that — Burrow and Chase have been downright dominant on third downs.
Burrow is currently tops in the NFL with a 136.9 passer rating on third downs and Chase is also tops with 13 third-down catches.
Some of it is just the connection between the two and just how great Chase is. But it shouldn’t go unnoted just how many RPOs the Bengals gameplan put into the equation during the win over the Saints.
“I think we know who we are now,” Burrow said, according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “For the last three quarters of the game we were pretty lights out. We like to play a complete game. We’d like to start a little faster. But like I said, we made plays down the stretch.”
This hardly means the Bengals will keep rolling out RPOs each week. But it’s great they put something newish on film for defenses to prep for and have the ability to roll out something entirely different the next week.
Meaning, if nothing else, the efficiency on third downs should remain high.
