ChaseBrown

Oct 12

Samaje Perine led the Bengals in rushing attempts and yards.

Chase Brown has been excellent from a fantasy perspective at times, in part because he plays in one of the best offenses in the league, and in part because he dominates rushing volume while also being among the league leaders in receiving volume for running backs. However, he has never graded among the best running backs in the league, and has had occasional rough spots. Despite this, Cincinnati has rarely adjusted the personnel in the backfield. Perine has been the receiving back the last two years, while Tahj Brooks has been the third back, who only ever plays if one of the top two backs are injured. Brown had a rough game last week, running nine times for 10 yards. He similarly had a difficult outing this week, running 13 times for 39 yards. He has gained just one first down over the last two weeks, and has no runs of 10 or more yards. This led Perine to rotate in more often on early downs and short-yardage situations this week. The strategy appeared to be part of the plan from the start, with Perine totaling 11 snaps and six carries on first and second downs over the first five drives. If this rotation continues, then Brown is still a fantasy starter, but his ceiling will be lower. There is a chance Brown steps up, and then his playing time will go back to normal. A similar phenomenon happened last season. However, there is also a chance Perine’s playing time increases even further after having a good game. Perine is worth adding off the waiver wire in case his role continues to expand.

Oct 8

Through four weeks, the under-center game is on the rocks, and the running game went so poorly on Sunday that the Bengals opted to abort any attempt while Burrow dropped back 58 times....What they didn’t do well Sunday was run the ball. Twelve designed runs produced 17 yards. Those failures forced the staff into a game plan that opted to let Burrow throw nearly every down rather than keep failing on the ground....To be better moving forward, this staff might look backward. Multiple seasons during Taylor’s tenure, his staff made schematic changes, sometimes dramatic and sometimes smaller, to the run game at this point in the season and experienced season-altering growth. Most notably, in October 2022 the team shifted to a downhill, shotgun run scheme designed to increase efficiency after an ugly start. Last year, the Bengals started historically bad on the ground, but shifted personnel (and quarterbacks) to unlock Chase Brown for the best season of his career....How will the Bengals’ run game be constructed when they take the field in South Florida? Well, they are figuring that out this week. Judging by the reaction across the offense on Monday, however, status quo is not an option.