The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are coming off a blowout loss to the San Francisco 49ers, and things won’t get easier when the Cincinnati Bengals come to town Sunday.
One of the hottest teams in the NFL, the Bengals boast one of the league’s best quarterback/wide receiver tandems in Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase, and Bucs head coach Todd Bowles is well aware of the challenge they’ll present his defense.
“I don’t have all the adjectives that everybody said about him,” Bowles said Wednesday, when asked about Burrow. “He’s great, he’s poised in the pocket, he throws a great ball all over the field, he can throw at any angle, he can make any throw, he has some great receivers to throw to, he has a good understanding of the offense and the game, he can take advantage of what you’re trying to give him, he can run the ball when he has to run the ball, he can throw people open, he can use his feet. He has a knack for the game. Certain guys when they come out of college that young have a knack for the game already – he has it.”
“[He has] outstanding hands, outstanding size, [he is] very good at getting off the ball, his catch radius is enormous – him and Tee Higgins, actually – as soon as the ball touches his hands, he’s getting up-field right now,” Bowles said of Chase. “It’s rare to see somebody get up-field that quick with that size. He has a natural knack for the game and he looks great doing it.”
After giving up 35 points to a third-string rookie quarterback last week, Bowles and the Bucs defense obviously have their work cut out for them against the Bengals this weekend.
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