Ja’Marr Chase wanted the ball just one more time.
The Bengals’ receiver lamented that quarterback Joe Burrow did not look his way on the failed two-point conversion that all but sealed the 35-34 loss to the Ravens on “Thursday Night Football.”
Chase’s third touchdown in his 11-catch, 264-yard night had brought Cincinnati within one point before Burrow threw an incomplete pass to backup tight end Tanner Hudson on the two-point call.
“Yeah, I always feel like that as a receiver you should want the ball, yes, but sometimes Joe don’t see it, ya know?” Chase said after the Bengals fell to 4-6.
Going to Chase seemed like it would have been a wise plan with the game on the line since the Ravens could not stop him during the thrilling AFC North showdown.
He consistently found open spots in the Ravens’ porous defense, having scored from 67, 70 and five yards out during one of the best wide receiver fantasy football performances in NFL history.
Chase’s 457 yards against the Ravens in two games this season — both Baltimore wins — marked the most against one team in NFL history, according to Pro Football Talk.
For the two-point conversion, the Bengals lined up Chase on the far left and the Ravens took a chance and only offered single coverage.
Baltimore rushed five on the play while double teaming the tight ends in Hudson and Mike Gesicki and single-covering Chase and Andrei Iosivas.
Chase started to the outside before crossing toward the middle, but Burrow seemingly never looked his way before firing toward Hudson. The high pass hit Hudson’s finger tips before falling to the ground.
Burrow explained that the play did not call for the ball to go to Chase.
“I just sailed it a little bit,” Burrow said of his throw. “(Chase) was on the back side, I didn’t get to him. I took my first read.”
Chase definitively said he was open on the play.
“I’m always open,” he noted.
The Bengals now find themselves in a tough spot sitting two games below .500 and now have lost the tiebreaker to the Ravens.
Cincinnati has six games left against teams hopeful of making the playoffs — should Dallas be considered still in the mix — including two against the division-leading Steelers.
Making it all the more frustrating for the Bengals is that they are potentially wasting great production from their LSU quarterback-receiver duo, as seen Thursday night.
“It’s crazy to say that,” Chase said. “I would never in a million years expect me to play this well and he play this well and we still have a record like this.”
