On Sunday, Joe Flacco will start against the Packers for the second time in three weeks. He is aiming to become the first quarterback since Jack Kemp in 1962 to defeat the same team twice in a season for two different organizations.
For Jeff Hafley, it's difficult to know if his preparation for the Bengals this Sunday just became a lot easier or a lot more challenging. On one hand, he has already spent an entire week game-planning for Flacco, and delivered a strong performance against the Browns despite the loss, holding the veteran quarterback to a passer rating of 55.6.
On the other hand, there is no prerequisite for what this Cincinnati Bengals offense will now look like. One of the most challenging situations in coaching is preparing for something you haven't really seen.
**To beat the Bengals, one must think like the Bengals**
Put yourself in Zac Taylor's shoes at this moment in time. In the big picture, he's just trying to keep this ship afloat until Joe Burrow returns from injury. As long as this team has a puncher's chance with #9 under center late in the season, it will be mission accomplished as far as the next few weeks and months are concerned.
While I wouldn't go as far as to say this is a totally lost week for the Bengals, if Zac Taylor at least gets his offense up and running against the Packers on Sunday, it would probably be enough of a moral victory with the schedule easing up after this week.
One of Taylor's goals for this weekend is to once again get his frustrated superstar wide receiver heavily involved in the gameplan. Ja'Marr Chase's overtly visible complaints about the state of his quarterback play since Burrow went down have certainly contributed to Cincinnati's pivot to Joe Flacco.
Chase's one career game vs. the Packers resulted in 6 catches for 159 yards and a touchdown. I'd expect him to be just as heavily involved this time around. Chase is playing with a chip on his shoulder and if you're Joe Flacco, you don't need to know much of the playbook as long as #1 is out there running routes. Throw it his way and watch what happens.
Flacco is as experienced as they come, but he's entering into the most pass-heavy offense in the league over the past three years, which includes a bad offensive line that will require him to demonstrate excellent anticipation with a set of pass catchers he's just currently learning the names of.
**How do the Bengals and Browns differ?**
Ohio's two NFL offenses have more in common than I initially would have guessed. They share similar personnel tendencies, play action rates, screen pass rates, empty/bunch rates etc. The only major outliers are Cincinnati's higher shotgun usage (3rd most in NFL compared to 18th for Browns) and their much higher RPO rate. The Bengals call RPOs at the 7th highest rate in the league while Cleveland is down at 27th.
Crucially, the Bengals don't do anything outlandish that a seasoned veteran like Flacco can't pick up on the fly within the week. Otherwise they wouldn't have signed him and wouldn't have immediately made him their starter.
The Browns have faced a lot more man coverage than the Bengals so far this season. That is quite self-explanatory. Defensive coordinators back their guys to win against Browns wide receivers. They do not feel the same way when faced with Ja'Marr Chase & Co.
The Packers played more man coverage against the Browns than any of their other three opponents so far this season. You would think that the same approach would be suicide against a talent such as Chase, but Ja'Marr surprisingly has just 4 catches for 15 total yards on 40 routes against man coverage so far this year.
That's 0.38 yards per route run vs. man coverage, which places Chase 94th out of 100 NFL WRs. He ranks 10th in the same stat against zone coverage! (2.54 yards per route run).
Much of that stems from 1. Denzel Ward being an absolute beast, and 2. Jake Browning struggled to anticipate Chase's breaks against press coverage — something Flacco's veteran timing could remedy.
Who would tempt fate against one of the greatest talents the wide receiver position has ever seen? The Packers will be optimistic that they have a glaring mismatch over the Bengals offensive line, and Joe Flacco simply won't have the time to find Chase on any deep connection on Sunday.