BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – It’s hard not to feel like the Browns caught a big break this week with their season on the brink of disaster.
The news that Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase would be sidelined due to a hip injury the next 4-6 weeks caught everyone off guard.
“It was a surprise,” defensive coordinator Joe Woods said. “He is a big playmaker for them. That is a big part of their offense. I know they have other good players so they are going to do what they do, but it is the NFL.”
It’s certainly one less problem for the Browns secondary to worry about, but apparently not everyone in the Browns locker room is thrilled.
“Oh, I was pissed, for sure,” Newsome said of his reaction to hearing about Chase’s injury. “Yeah, definitely was looking forward to that matchup. Hopefully he gets well soon, but yeah, I was definitely mad.”
In an August appearance on ‘The Pivot Podcast’ Chase named Denzel Ward on his Mt. Rushmore of cornerbacks after Ward had a 99-yard pick 6 against them last year in a blowout of the Bengals at Cincinnati, but he dissed Newsome and the Browns.
“Not just because Cleveland talks the most s—, but just because Denzel Ward did his thing,” Chase said on the Podcast. “Same for Greg Newsome. I don't think he's elite, but they definitely just all talk crazy. It ain't somebody we're circling.”
Newsome claimed Friday he didn’t feel disrespected by Chase’s remarks, and he was simply bummed he wouldn’t get to defend him on Monday Night Football.
“Nah, it was just, you know, that's just going to be like a rivalry that's going to be every single year,” Newsome said. “That stuff is all noise and stuff like that. But it's always great to go against a very talented receiver, and I look forward to those matchups. I was definitely upset.”
Chase leads the Bengals, who have lost seven of the last eight against Cleveland, with 47 catches for 605 yards and six touchdowns this season.
“He’s a great player and would be a great challenge for our secondary and for me as well,” rookie cornerback Martin Emerson Jr. said.
“I hope he gets better. I don’t wish injury on anybody.”
Emerson’s role has expanded with Ward likely to miss his third straight game due to a concussion suffered October 9.
Even without Chase available, the Bengals figure to present plenty of problems with their prolific passing attack led by quarterback Joe Burrow, who has thrown for 781 yards and six touchdowns combined the last two games.
“We want to be in tight coverage if he is getting rid of it quickly. If he holds onto it, we definitely want to try and affect him with pressure,” Woods said. “That is why he is playing at such a high level now. You will know based on the route and based on the pressures, you can’t hit him. You have try to mix in a little bit of coverage and try to make him hold it. He can scramble. You see him have some big runs. He is playing really good. It is going to be hard to deal with.”
Bengals receivers Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd are quite capable of picking up the slack for Chase. The duo have combined for 60 catches for 910 yards and five touchdowns through seven games.
“I think Boyd's the best route-runner out of the three,” Newsome said. “He runs great routes. He's the slot guy, so he gets a lot of targets inside. Great third-down type of guy. He's one of those guys, you know, when you always game-plan Higgins and Chase, he seems to go off every single time. So that's a guy you definitely gotta stay on every single time. And then with Tee Higgins, he's that ... he's a deep threat because of his, you know, length. So, he catches contested balls and still runs really good routes.
“They gotta great combination over there of very talented guys who can do different things.”