Cincinnati Bengals WR Ja'Marr Chase downplays sideline spat with Zac Taylor.
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Cincinnati Bengals WR Ja'Marr Chase downplays sideline spat with Zac Taylor.
The Cincinnati Bengals are currently 2-2 in this young NFL season. However, they might as well be 0-8 the way they’ve been playing.
The last two games, the Bengals have gotten absolutely pasted by the Minnesota Vikings (48-10) and Denver Broncos (28-3). And, look at the scores, remember that time that the Bengals were supposed to have one of the top offensive attacks in all of football? Yeah, that’s not the case anymore.
It’s not just that they are getting slaughtered and embarrassed with the likes of Jake Browning at quarterback, there has also been a public sideline dustup between wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase and head coach Zac Taylor. This would suggest that some important people aren’t in great moods these days.
Ja’Marr Chase addressed the sideline altercation
The Broncos game was a Monday nighter so, yeah, everyone saw the argument between Chase and Taylor. There is a really good chance that everyone is making way too much of it and the two were just frustrated by having the brakes beaten off of them in front of a national audience.
“Everything I do is pretty much overblown,” Chase said. “It happens. That’s normal for me and Zac. That’s not my first time doing that.”
Right after the game, Chase also addressed Taylor’s willingness to accept his input during games. It didn’t exactly look like a polite exchange of ideas, but okay.
“Zac lets me walk up to him and talk to him,” Chase said after the blowout loss. “It is good to have. Especially when you’re going through a tough game like that. Zac lets me talk to him. He’s always willing to listen. He doesn’t really push me off or nothing like that.”
Zac Taylor working to make things better for Ja’Marr Chase
While Taylor needs to improve the Bengals for a myriad of reasons, making Chase happy is certainly one of them. The last thing a team in a death spiral needs is an unhappy superstar.
“I want guys to play with passion,” Taylor said. “I want them to play with anger because you never know how guys may respond. I told my guys that recently, after the game, I just want them to play a little more fire and anger.”
Translation: Yeah, he should be heated, did you watch the game?
The big issue that Taylor needs to fix as it relates to Chase and the entire team (and fanbase and fantasy football players globally) is the quarterback position. Since Joe Burrow went down in Week 2, the team’s wildest hopes and aspirations seem to have gone with him and his injured toe.
It’s not exactly clear why Taylor wants to stick with Browning (unless management refuses to trade for someone competent, which is entirely possible), but he says he’s fine with him.
“I’ve got a ton of confidence in Jake,” Taylor said. “I’m unwavering in that. I’ve seen the best of Jake. I know that we can do a great job supporting him to where he can go win games for us. So, I feel extremely confident in Jake Browning.”