RUN TALK: Even before the news about Chase broke, the Bengals were talking about the need to offset the Pro Bowl pass rush of Browns edge Myles Garrett, up to his old tricks with six sacks already this season, with the run game.
“That takes away some of their opportunities but they are still good against the run,” Taylor said. “They are violent at the point of attack. They do a good job pursuing on the back side. They can impact your run game as well. Of course, what gets all the attention is all the pressure production and sack production. That’s what stands out. It doesn’t diminish the fact they are really good run down players as well.”
And while the Browns other edge, Jadeveon Clowney, has just 1.5 sacks this season, he’s a nine-year vet with 42.5 in his career as Burrow faces a fellow overall No. 1 pick. He had two sacks in last season’s finale, when the Bengals didn’t play their starters.
But the Browns have a new wrinkle with their rushers. Usually left tackle Jonah Williams gets Garrett while right tackle La’el Collins, who sat out Wednesday with his ankle injury from last Sunday, would get Clowney.
“Myles Garrett doesn’t always line up there on the left any more. These last two weeks he’s been on the right,” Taylor said. “That’s a change from every time I played them where it’s consistently been inside or playing on the left. That’s a big change for those guys in terms of how they’re using him. That’s going to be LC and Jonah and the other gets Jadeveon.”
FLIP-FLOP ON CLOIN FLIP: Up until the third game of this season, Taylor was adamant. Win the coin toss and defer so you have the chance to double up at the end of the first half and start of the second half.
And why not? Just go back to last year at this time when they were 5-2 and it worked like clockwork. In three of the wins, they deferred, scored in the last minute of the first half and on the first drive of the second half in putting up at least 10 points in between for possessions for the other team.