The Cincinnati Bengals have been one of the real surprises in the 2021 NFL season. After finishing the year 4-11-1 and losing Joe Burrow to a devastating knee injury a season ago, they have come out guns ablazing. Despite the loss to the New York Jets, Cincy is still miles ahead of where they were a season ago.
Last season in 10 games, Burrow threw for just 13 touchdowns with five interceptions and 2,688 yards. This season in just eight games he has 2,215 yards and his yards per attempt are 2.3 yards higher. He has 20 touchdown passes and nine interceptions. Burrow has shown a lot of improvement in year two with the team.
Pro Football Focus grades him as the highest offensive player on the team at 87.1. Just behind him is former college teammate Ja’Marr Chase at 81.3. Chase has 38 receptions for 786 yards and seven touchdowns. The duo feels like they haven’t missed a beat despite not playing together in 2020. Burrow was in the NFL as the No. 1 pick of the draft and Chase opted out of his junior season.
Highest-graded #Bengals through eight games (min. 200 snaps):
1️⃣ D.J. Reader, DI- 87.4
2️⃣ Joe Burrow, QB- 87.1
3️⃣ Ja’Marr Chase, WR- 81.3
4️⃣ Joe Mixon, RB- 80.3
5️⃣ Vonn Bell, S- 76.5 pic.twitter.com/K1UBWMiVAK— PFF CIN Bengals (@PFF_Bengals) November 2, 2021
This season the duo has the team at 5-3 and just 0.5 games back of idle Baltimore. As Burrow and Chase go, so do the rest of the team. Can they carry Cincy back to the playoffs for the first time since 2015? They currently sit at No. 5 seed in the AFC.
"That was fun…we're gonna need two more."@JoeyB wanted @Real10jayy__ and the @Bengals offense to keep their foot on the gas. 😤 pic.twitter.com/9MBQAoYSLG
— NFL Films (@NFLFilms) October 26, 2021
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