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       #Post#: 75255--------------------------------------------------
       Bengals
   DIR By: Clay Death
       Date: October 28, 2021, 10:58 pm
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  HTML https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/27/sports/football/jamarr-chase-cincinnati-bengals.html?smid=tw-share
       Before receiver Ja’Marr Chase’s arrival, the Cincinnati Bengals
       may have been the N.F.L.’s most inconsequential franchise.
       The Bengals have a reputation as the football equivalent of a
       mom-and-pop corner hardware store operating on a shoestring
       budget. Their state-of-the-mid-20th-century fitness facility
       features five military surplus weight benches and a garden hose
       for hydration. Their practice field yields alfalfa in the
       off-season. Their scouting department consists of unpaid interns
       and a box of VHS tapes of Ohio State games. Trade requests go
       straight to their answering machine.
       These are exaggerations, but you get the idea.
       The pinnacle of the Bengals’ success over the last 30 years was
       a string of five consecutive wild-card-round losses under Coach
       Marvin Lewis and quarterback Andy Dalton from 2011 to 2015. Yet
       the Bengals also typically avoid the hilarious catastrophes that
       make the Jets and the Cleveland Browns so fascinating.
       In most years, the Bengals exist simply to balance out the
       schedule, generate fantasy statistics and provide the Pittsburgh
       Steelers with an opponent they can beat on the road and still be
       home in time for a late supper.
       Chase’s arrival is changing all of that. The fifth overall pick
       in the 2021 draft, he has the second-most receiving yards in the
       league (754) on 35 receptions. He has caught six touchdown
       passes, four of them for 30-plus yards. He is on a pace to
       shatter the N.F.L. rookie record of 1,400 receiving yards set by
       Justin Jefferson of the Minnesota Vikings last season. (Bill
       Groman holds the pro football record for receiving yards as a
       rookie — 1,473 yards in 1960 for the Houston Oilers in the
       American Football League.)
       On Sunday, Chase caught eight passes for 201 yards, including
       one on a quick slant route that he turned into an 82-yard
       touchdown, to fuel a 41-17 Bengals rout of the Baltimore Ravens.
       The victory, which improved the Bengals’ record to 5-2, was the
       franchise’s most significant win since its playoff years, if not
       longer.
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