Ja’Marr Chase put in a discouraging performance Friday during the Cincinnati Bengals’ preseason game against the Washington Football Team. It was enough to prompt his coach to call for improvement, but not enough to panic yet.
Chase was responsible for three drops on Friday, all of them coming on third down. That prompted questions about Chase’s performance so far in Bengals camp, leading coach Zac Taylor to downplay the issue.
“We just have to keep working on it,” Taylor said, via Geoff Hobson of the team’s official website. “It’s key our receivers do a great job focusing on catching the ball. He’s getting better every day in a lot of the other details that maybe go unnoticed. We’ll just keep looking for improvement there.”
Chase has struggled with drops during camp, but it’s worth remembering he hasn’t played in over a year. He also hasn’t had a lot of time to get used to working with quarterback Brandon Allen, who started Friday’s game. Add in the fact that the quarterback he’s more familiar with is also struggling and the slow start is more understandable. If the problem lingers too far into the regular season, that will be more cause for concern.
