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Joe Burrow wearing Ja’Marr Chase’s LSU jersey to the Superdome was the coolest look of Week 6—and both ex-Tigers backed all of it up.And it really started with a random text from quarterback to receiver asking if he had one of his college jerseys he could bring on the trip back to Louisiana.
“He asked for it before we left Cincinnati,” Chase told me, “so I gave it to him.”
“It’s the game-worn jersey,” Burrow confirmed, via text, from the Superdome. “Just wanted to pay tribute to my time here and thought this was a cool way to do it.”
By game-worn, Burrow means it’s the jersey that Chase wore (and Chase confirmed this, too) in LSU’s 42–25 win over Clemson for the national title in January 2020. Burrow threw for 463 yards and five touchdowns in the Superdome, and Chase had nine catches for 221 yards and two touchdowns. And while the numbers in their return to New Orleans weren’t quite as gaudy Sunday, both guys were every bit as clutch as ever in leading the Bengals back from 17–7, 23–14 and 26–21 deficits to get a 30–26 win over the Saints.
With the Bengals’ offensive line still finding its way, they really had to be, especially after a relatively quiet first half for both—the highlight for either was a 19-yard touchdown run from Burrow on a third-and-8 in the second quarter, one that helped keep Cincinnati in the game early.
Into the third quarter, Burrow and the receivers started to connect underneath, with Burrow setting those guys up to make plays, and ultimately setting the defense up for a thread-the-needle, 15-yard touchdown throw to the post to Chase.
“Just a regular post route,” Chase said. “I just had to make a defender miss at the line. They were trying to play their leverage as inside and outside, they were mixing it up a lot, and I feel like Zac [Taylor] definitely worked the game up, with just moving me around and calling crazy-good plays today. We executed well, the whole offense.”
That one got the Bengals to within 23–21, and after the teams traded field goals, the Bayou Bengals doubled back to even the score.
Just before the two-minute warning, the defense forced a punt, which set the Bengals up at their own 40 with 2:10 left in the game. Which is where Taylor dialed up a back-shoulder throw from Burrow to Chase, who cut it at 10 yards, broke a tackle, and 60 yards later, the Bengals had their first lead with 1:57 to go.
“I just made a play with my feet,” Chase said. “Me and Joe were on the same page with the back-shoulder, so that worked out perfectly.”
And the play looms large now in what’s been an imperfect season. Coming off last season’s AFC title, the Bengals are back to .500 at 3–3.
Is it what they expected? No. But the hope is it’ll be a better team in the long run, like the Chiefs were last year, after revamping the line. And handling games like these where the Bengals have a target on their back should lead to more growth.
“Yeah, I feel like we do know how to fight; that’s one thing about us,” Chase said.
And Chase said, as a bonus, on the way out of the stadium, he and Burrow did get some appreciation from Saints fans also loyal to LSU.
To reciprocate that, they put on quite a show.
