NFL Player of the Week: Ja’Marr Chase Player Stats
Chase Ended TD Drought Against Cards
Injury to Higgins Led to Even Higher Target Rate for Chase
Sometimes it pays to be a diva. A clearly irritated Cincinnati Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase boldly proclaimed “I’m always open” after failing to score a touchdown during the Bengals’ 1-3 start.
Chase had no issues finding his way into the end zone against the Arizona Cardinals as he recorded his sixth career game with multiple touchdowns in his three years in the NFL. There were some other strong options, but when looking at Ja’Marr Chase’s player stats, he is our NFL Player of the Week.
With an injury to his former LSU teammate Justin Jefferson of the Minnesota Vikings, Chase is now third in the odds to win the NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award as his +1200 odds are only behind San Francisco running back Christian McCaffrey and Miami receiver Tyreek Hill.
When looking at the NFL leaders, Chase is seventh in the NFL with 476 receiving yards and second only to Los Angeles Rams rookie Pacu Nacua with 60 targets this season.
Let’s take a closer look to Chase’s monster game in Week 5.
Let’s Cut to the Chase
There is something to be said about getting the ball to your best player.
In the two wins this season by the Bengals, Chase has been targeted 34 times. He finished with 27 catches and 333 yards against the Los Angeles Rams and Arizona Cardinals.
In the three losses, he finished with 17 catches for 143 yards on 26 targets.
He almost matched that last number in Sunday’s 34-20 win as he was targeted 19 times. The Bengals, listed as a 3-point favorite on the road, saw Chase score on touchdown catches of 2, 63 and 3 yards. He had never gone more than three games without a touchdown in his first two NFL seasons before failing to reach the end zone in each of the first four games in 2023.
He finished with 15 catches for 192 yards. The NFL Player of the Week features Ja’Marr Chase’s gaudy player stats as he beat out Chicago’s D.J. Moore and Justin Fields, George Kittle of the San Francisco 49ers, Jacksonville running back Travis Etienne and Miami’s Tyreek Hill among others.
Some of this could be attributed to fellow receiver Tee Higgins missing the game due to a rib injury.
However, clearly his teammates and coaches got the message as Chase had one of the best games of his young NFL career.
It Sounds Like A Plan
Cincinnati is now 14-4 when Chase is targeted at least 10 times in a game.
Arizona is in the running as the worst team in the NFL as only Jacksonville, Indianapolis, Denver, Seattle, Chicago and the Los Angeles Chargers allow more passing yards per game.
Seattle happens to be up next for the Bengals while Jacksonville is also on the schedule so when it comes to the NFL scores, there could be more big games coming up.
It is just a hunch, but if he is targeted 19 times again, there will be some other NFL Player of the Week awards featuring Ja’Marr Chase stats.
A Nice Reward
Cincinnati covered for the first time this season thanks in large part to the Joe Burrow to Chase connection.
It might be a good time to remind those who bet online that since Chase came into the NFL, Cincinnati is 28-16-1 against the spread.
No AFC team has covered as often as the Bengals since the start of the 2019 season. Detroit, San Francisco and Dallas have been percentage ATS during that time with only San Francisco covering more times (29 to 28) than the Bengals.
Cincinnati’s numbers against the spread are not quite as impressive as the Bengals have seen just 17 of their 45 games finish over the total.
Looking for some more numbers?
Chase came into the season as the front-runner at -225 to have the most receiving yards among AFC North players.
Trenton Irwin became a popular target for Cincinnati with 10 targets and seven passes came in the direction of veteran Tyler Boyd. With all due respect to those two, if given a chance, Burrow will send the ball in the direction of Chase as often as possible
Cincinnati still has some work to do to return to the NFL playoffs as the Bengals are priced at -200 to miss the playoffs and +160 to qualify for the postseason.
In the odds to win the AFC North Division, Cincinnati (+400) is behind both the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns.
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