What We Saw: Week 5

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Bengals @ Cardinals

Final Score: Bengals 34, Cardinals 20

Writer: Ben Brown (@BenBrownPL on Twitter)

Joe Burrow is back, baby. Burrow lit up the box score against the lowly Cardinals but, most importantly, he passed the eye test in the health department and looked nimble on his feet. With time to throw and seemingly no physical limitations holding him back, Burrow was able to sling it downfield all day, and Ja’Marr Chase capitalized on the opportunity with an absolute monster day.

For the Cardinals, James Conner left the game just before halftime and never returned after sustaining a knee injury. The diagnosis is not clear as of writing, but there was nothing clear and obvious that looked like an injury. Monitor this situation. Rookie RB Emari Demercado was the next man up and will likely be a popular waiver wire target if Conner is to miss any time.

Three Up

Ja’Marr Chase – Punished the defense all day long
Joe Burrow – Forget the numbers – he looked healthy. This is a great sign for anyone who drafted him for fantasy purposes
Marquise Brown – With Conner’s injury, he was the best player on offense for Arizona

Three Down

James Conner – A knee injury in the 2nd quarter ended his day
Joe Mixon – Putting him here isn’t really fair, as he largely did his job, but he was stuffed four times at the goal line and was unable to punch it in for a score.
Joshua Dobbs – Had arguably his worst game as a member of the Cardinals and didn’t look comfortable for much of the game

Cincinnati Bengals

Quarterback

Joe Burrow: 36/46, 317 yards, 3 TD, INT, 3 sacks | 4 carries, 7 yards

Burrow looked like the Burrow of old this week, delivering strike after strike downfield and moving around in the pocket with confidence. Burrow did not show any signs of limitation due to his injured calf. The only sign of an injury was the bulky black wrap the trainers would put on his leg between possessions. This is the most important development out of this game by far, as you should now feel much more confident firing him up next weekend against the Seahawks.

Burrow was not perfect on the day; He did have an interception, though it was the result of his receiver falling to the ground mid-route and wasn’t his fault. He moved the ball downfield with relative ease, however, as Arizona’s defense could not find an answer for Chase or Irwin all day. When Burrow had time to throw, which was most of the day, he was himself.

Notes

7/7 on opening drive. Looked good throwing, moved well in the pocket
Literally hopped over a defender while scrambling trying to avoid a sack. Was sacked but he looked more agile and mobile than he has in previous weeks
Overthrew Tyler Boyd with under a minute left, almost picked. Defender jumped for it but ball went right through his hands
Interception thrown in vicinity of Irwin, who slipped and fell mid-route. Easy interception but not Burrow’s fault
Nice scramble for 1st down

Running Back

Joe Mixon: 25 carries, 81 yards | 4 targets, 4 receptions, 13 yards

Mixon had a relatively quiet game that could have been a great game had he not been stuffed at the goal line four times by Arizona’s defense. A touchdown really would have saved his line. Mixon was the workhorse back for the Bengals today, earning all but one of the carries, however, his lack of production was thanks in large part to an Arizona defense that simply limited big plays on the ground. It’s a good thing they sold out to stop Mixon and chose to let Ja’Marr Chase beat them instead…

Notes

Three straight touches inside 10 on first drive, two carries and a screen
Stuffed at the one-yard line on three straight plays late in 2nd quarter, including on 4th down. Cardinals defensive front especially stingy in first half, though the safety made the play on 4th down to stop Mixon from getting in
Stuffed again at the goal line

Chase Brown: 1 target, 1 reception, 2 yards

Trayveon Williams: 1 carry, 5 yards

Notes

Was supposed to take the handoff on a 3rd and 1 draw, decided to block instead while Burrow tried to hand the ball off to him. Broken play led to a punt

Wide Receiver/Tight End

Ja’Marr Chase: 19 targets, 15 receptions, 192 yards, 3 TD

With Tee Higgins out, the Bengals needed Ja’Marr Chase to step up and help carry them in a must-win game. Sure enough, Chase had himself an absolute monster game, setting the Bengals’ single-game record for catches and scoring three times to boot. It helped that Joe Burrow looked much more like the Burrow we all know and love, but Chase was routinely finding himself open against Arizona’s weak pass defense. It was the type of monster game you expect out of a guy who was drafted near the top of nearly all drafts this preseason.

Notes

First TD of season in back of end zone on opening drive
Thrown low in end zone, couldn’t reel it in for another TD
Might have injured left leg late in 2nd quarter
63 yard TD on play action that the corner bit on
Set the single game Bengals record for most catches

Tee Higgins: Inactive

Higgins missed this game with a rib injury he sustained in Week 4.

Trent Irwin: 10 targets, 8 receptions, 60 yards, fumble

Irwin was the other beneficiary of Tee Higgins being inactive. He was involved right from the jump, catching two passes on the Bengals’ opening drive where he settled into holes in the Cardinals’ zone defense on both occasions. Irwin also had a nice 25-yard punt return to set up their second drive with great field position at midfield. His fumble came on a ball he caught near the sideline, the defender knocked it out and the ball bounced out of bounds immediately. Irwin was overthrown on a flea flicker in the 2nd half, with the ball just a step or two in front of him.

Tyler Boyd: 7 targets, 6 receptions, 39 yards

I didn’t realize Boyd caught six passes in this game until after the game finished when I entered the stats for him. He was overshadowed by both Chase and Irwin for much of this game. Of his two most notable plays, only one counted. He reeled in a 14 yard catch to convert third down late in the 2nd quarter, extending a drive that would result in points. He later caught a ball over the middle, took it to the sideline, made multiple defenders miss with moves after the catch, and scored a TD but the play was negated by a hold. Otherwise, his impact wasn’t noteworthy, and that’s about what you should expect out of Boyd at this point in his Bengals career.

Notes

Scored a touchdown on a play he made multiple defenders miss with moves after the catch, but it was negated by a hold

Kwamie Lassiter II: 1 target, 1 reception, 2 yards

Lassiter was elevated from the practice squad before this game and he caught his first career pass in Arizona, his hometown, where his father played for the Cardinals from 1995-2002. It came with the game out of hand and the Bengals already having sealed a win, but it was a cool moment nonetheless.

Andrei Iosivas: 2 targets, 1 reception, 9 yards

Arizona Cardinals

Quarterback

Joshua Dobbs: 15/32, 166 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT, 3 sacks, fumble (lost) | 3 carries, 1 yard

Dobbs’ fantasy ceiling is not as high without his rushing abilities, and after three straight weeks of 40+ yards on the ground, Dobbs was held in check and was unable to do anything on the ground. I have not watched Dobbs this season so I can’t tell you how he has achieved his yardage on the ground in previous games, but the one designed run that was noteworthy was on 4th and short and he got stood up two yards behind the line of scrimmage.

The offense as a whole struggled to sustain drives, especially in the first half. Arizona went three and out on four of their seven drives in the first half, and one of the other three resulted in a pick-six on the second play of the drive.

Arizona took over the ball at their own half yard line with under two minutes to play. After a QB sneak up the middle attempting to get some breathing room, Dobbs threw a ball straight through Hollywood Brown’s hands and it was intercepted and returned for a touchdown. It was a bullet of a throw, so you can’t really blame Hollywood for the pick but it was as devastating of an interception as you can have. It was Dobbs’ first interception as a member of the Cardinals. He very nearly threw another interception a few plays later.

Dobbs throws a nice ball. It was refreshing watching someone with some zip on the ball after watching three quarters of Mac Jones in the early games. His decision-making left a lot to be desired. He had two interceptions and probably should have had four. He threw a couple of balls downfield that he should have dumped off to open receivers instead. The touchdown to Hollywood Brown was a great throw but it was his only noteworthy good throw of the day. I was honestly expecting to see more out of Dobbs today but I was disappointed.

Notes

Stayed in the pocket on a naked bootleg, sacked. Announcer was not happy with him
Nice ball to Hollywood for the TD, pocket was collapsing around him
Rolled to one side, spun around and tried to throw a screen to the other side. Nearly picked
Nearly threw another interception in the end zone
Designed QB run on 4th and one in the red zone, no shot. Bengals’ defense stepped up and stuffed him
Down 11 in 4th quarter, strip sacked and turned it over

Running Back

James Conner: 6 carries, 46 yards

Conner’s day was highlighted by a 35-yard highlight-reel run, but he unfortunately was injured either on that run or on his next one. The broadcast called it a knee injury and he did not return to the game. He struggled to find any room to run on his other five carries, but it’s still a disappointment to see such a talented player get hurt. Conner’s situation is worth monitoring this week.

Notes

Not much room to run in the 1st quarter
Took a draw, cut it back across the field, stiff armed a guy and then jumped over another. Play was dead in the backfield but spun and kept it alive. Impressive run
Injured? Had one carry after the long run but didn’t take the field on their next drive
Knee injury, was seen sitting on a cooler on the sideline while the offense was on the field to end the 1st half
Shown jogging to the locker room with a member of the training staff

Missed Opportunities

A missed block at the second level by an OL prevented a huge gain for Conner
Almost got around the edge, had room to run, dragged down by his shoelaces by a defender

Emari Demercado: 10 carries, 45 yards, TD | 3 targets, 1 reception, 12 yards

Demercado was fine in this game. His only catch came in garbage time, though he should have had another one as he was wide open across the middle of the field but Dobbs (wrongly) decided to throw downfield instead. His touchdown run was an impressive display of speed as he got around the edge and fought his way into the end zone. He didn’t wow me, but he was still better than I expected him to be. He looked much better than Matt Breida has this year, a guy who a lot of folks ran out to add in recent weeks.

Notes

Good burst through the hole
Got around the edge, fought his way into the end zone. 1st career TD

Wide Receiver/Tight End

Marquise Brown: 10 targets, 4 receptions, 61 yards, TD

Hollywood should have had a bigger day but Dobbs overthrew him three or four times downfield. Still, he had a solid day and rewarded fantasy managers who started him. On his touchdown, Brown was one one-on-one vs a corner in Cover 1, and he made a nice move just after the snap to get the corner on his heels. Brown ran right past him and Dobbs hit him with a great ball under pressure for the score. Brown also flashed his speed on a catch and run across the middle of the field where he gained 18 yards.

Notes

First target too high for him, was open
Overthrown on a deep ball on his second target
18 yard catch and run across the middle of the field
Overthrown again
Turned a three-yard gain into a 10-yard gain with a spin move
Missed a wide-open catch downfield with just over two minutes to go, would have been negated by a hold anyway

Michael Wilson: 2 targets, 1 reception, 18 yards

Wilson made a phenomenal catch on the sideline but, unfortunately, it was his first target of the game and it came with three minutes to go. Rondale M00re was far more involved in this one.

Zach Ertz: 4 targets, 2 receptions, 10 yards, TD

Arizona ran a lot of 13 personnel with three tight ends on the field, and Dobbs spread it around evenly between Ertz, Geoff Swaim, and Trey McBride. Ertz scored the TD, however, salvaging his day in an otherwise unnoteworthy performance.

Notes