Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow is having arguably his best season, but he is still wary about the Pittsburgh Steelers. Despite having 3,027 passing yards and 27 touchdowns to just 4 interceptions, and despite Pittsburgh’s lack of sack volume, he knows they have to be extra careful with this defense.
“It’s hard to hold on to the ball long enough to push the ball down the field”, Burrow said about the Steelers, via the Bengals’ website. “Teams try to run the ball quick, play-action, get the ball in the perimeter. You don’t want to let those edge rushers get off the ball, make you push up into the pocket into their really good interior rushers, so you got to play the game a certain way.”
While Burrow isn’t lightning-quick with his passes, he is pretty up there already. This season, he is averaging 2.71 seconds from snap to throw, 10th among qualified passers. That’s nowhere near Tua Tagovailoa’s 2.30 seconds, but nobody else is, either. Jameis Winston, though, averaged nearly three seconds per throw against the Steelers.
And they still couldn’t get much pressure on him, with one major exception. The Steelers got back into the game on Nick Herbig’s strip sack, taking the lead, but they couldn’t hold it. Will the pass rush be able to get to Joe Burrow? Not if Ja’Marr Chase can help up.
“They’re up front killing it right now. They secondary is pretty smooth, too, but up front is really the biggest key right now”, Chase said of the Steelers’ defense. “I’ve got to beat the DEs and the tackles from trying to make a play, so I’ve got to speed my route up. But at the same time, I still got to try to be in sync with Joe [Burrow].”
There aren’t many quarterback-receiver duos more in sync than Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase. Their connection goes back to college, and they’ve been a deadly combination in the NFL. This season, Chase leads the NFL with 1,056 yards and 12 receiving touchdowns. And the Steelers pass defense is only average in terms of volume, though top-three in touchdowns allowed.
Historically, Chase is usually pretty good against the Steelers. Even without Burrow last year, he still put up 81 yards. In 2022, he caught 10 passes for 129 yards and a touchdown. And of course in his first game against the Steelers, he caught two touchdowns.
But the Steelers have won the last two games in which they have played Ja’Marr Chase. Joe Burrow, on the other hand, is 3-2 against them, including 3-1 since the Bengals drafted Chase. And the only time the Steelers won in that span, it took overtime to do it.
For a myriad of reasons, the Bengals are just not very good this year. But Burrow and Chase are the least of their problems, and the most of the Steelers’ problems this week. If Pittsburgh loses, you can bet it is because of those two. And that’s without even getting into Tee Higgins. Unless, of course, it’s a little too cold for Joe Cool.
