Chase could see some similar adjustments from the Ravens in the second matchup Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium.
“Honestly, I don’t really know what to expect,” Chase said. “I know they are down a couple of people right now, so we’ve got to expect the unexpected on this game plan and just be athletes, play the right rules and get open.”
In the first matchup with the Ravens, the Bengals finished the game with four unanswered touchdowns to pull away. Chase caught an 82-yard touchdown pass to put Cincinnati up by 10 with 5:48 left in the third quarter and the Ravens unraveled from there.
The Bengals are hoping for a game more similar to the second meeting against Pittsburgh when they built a 31-3 halftime lead en route to a 41-10 win. Chase had two touchdowns in the first game against the Steelers and just three catches for 39 yards the second matchup.
Taylor said there are still things the teams can take from the Week 7 game, despite their differences now with injuries and illnesses impacting rosters.
“Obviously, that’s a big key for us — being able to play for a lead early,” Taylor said. “We haven’t had big leads lately early, outside of the Pittsburgh game. But we feel like we have pretty good control when we can do that. But we know that Baltimore is a really, really, really good football team. They’ve obviously got a lot of wins and even the losses that they’ve had have all been probably the most exciting losses of the year, for fans just watching football. We’re going to get their best shot and they’re going to get ours. It’s going to be an exciting football game.”
Chase said he showed how explosive he can be in the first seven games, and now teams are respecting that and it’s time for him to adjust.
In Sunday’s win at Denver, the Broncos’ secondary took Chase and Tee Higgins away, but that opened Tyler Boyd up for his biggest game since Week 4 when he recorded 118 yards receiving against Jacksonville. Boyd finished with eight catches for 96 yards in the 15-10 win at Denver.
Chase had a 46-yard catch negated by a holding penalty in the first quarter but didn’t have many other opportunities on the deep ball. He said he just needs to stay patient.
“Really it’s just taking advantage of the opportunities that are given to me at the right moment,” Chase said. “That’s really the best thing I could do at the moment. I can just be there, be a good teammate like I am, cheering everybody else on, plus when I’m doing my thing. The guys are on my side cheering me on, so whoever has the hot hand, we feed him. I’m just gonna be on their side cheering, making sure I’m doing my job and he’s doing his job so we can all be great.”
The Broncos ended up playing more zone, sometimes disguised as man coverage, than it seemed they were going to against Cincinnati, and he credited their defense as a whole for how they played. Chase joked he was glad to see Boyd “finally get to put something on tape.”
Taylor said it’s important for the Bengals to be able to win in different ways, with different players stepping up to make plays. On Sunday, it wasn’t a great day for the offense, but the defense and special teams shined, and Cincinnati was able to pull through for a big road win.
“It’s huge we’ve done it a lot of different ways where guys know they don’t all have to be 45-42 or 45-7,” Taylor said. “It can be 15-10, it can be 10-7. We don’t care. We just want to win and keep moving on. There’s no egos in our locker room. That’s the beauty of it. We’ve got a lot of really talented players. But they’re in it for the team and they’re in it for winning the division, going to the playoffs, all that fun stuff that comes with winning and we’ve got a very ego-less locker room.”
SUNDAY’S GAME
Ravens at Bengals, 1 p.m., CBS, 700, 1530, 102.7, 104.7
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