Raiders Wild Card vs Cincinnati: 3 Bengals to worry about Saturday

CINCINNATI, OHIO - JANUARY 02: Joe Mixon #28 of the Cincinnati Bengals is introduced before the game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Paul Brown Stadium on January 02, 2022 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
CINCINNATI, OHIO - JANUARY 02: Joe Mixon #28 of the Cincinnati Bengals is introduced before the game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Paul Brown Stadium on January 02, 2022 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
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CINCINNATI, OHIO – JANUARY 02: Ja’Marr Chase #1of the Cincinnati Bengals against the Kansas City Chiefs at Paul Brown Stadium on January 02, 2022, in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
CINCINNATI, OHIO – JANUARY 02: Ja’Marr Chase #1of the Cincinnati Bengals against the Kansas City Chiefs at Paul Brown Stadium on January 02, 2022, in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Raiders Wild Card vs Cincinnati: 3 Bengals to worry about Saturday

Ja’Marr Chase

It is hard to imagine that a rookie plays such a large role in a playoff team, but this is the case with wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase.

In the first meeting in Vegas, the Raiders stopped quarterback Joe Burrow from finding much throwing space as he only accumulated 148 passing yards in the first meeting.

This may have been an outlier though as the Bengals have a passing offense that is ranked just outside the top-five, and stopping Chase in back-to-back games is no easy feat.

The receiver has thrived with his former college quarterback and has 81 receptions to go along with over 1400 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns. Clearly not numbers you would expect from a rookie. In fact, he is ranked fourth in all of football in receiving yards and third in receiving touchdowns.

Hopefully, the Raiders can replicate their dominating performance in the last meeting (at least from a pass defense perspective) and will need to constantly follow Burrow’s favorite target as this will play a key role in the outcome of this difficult AFC playoff clash.

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