How the Bengals Can Keep Jalen Ramsey Away from Ja'Marr Chase

There’s a lot of anticipation building around the Ja’Marr Chase vs. Jalen Ramsey matchup. The only problem is we might not get to see a whole lot of it. The Rams are a predominant zone-coverage defense. In fact, according to Pro Football Focus, their cornerbacks played the lowest frequency of man coverage in the NFL this season. That means you likely won’t see Ramsey shadowing Chase wherever he goes.

That’s good news for the Bengals since Joe Burrow is aggressive in targeting Chase whenever he sees him in 1-on-1 situations on the outside. Between Burrow’s accuracy and Chase’s route-running ability, it’s almost always an advantage for the Bengals when Burrow gives Chase a chance to make a play. That advantage obviously won’t be as significant when Ramsey aligns over him.

That said, while there is not necessarily a clear pattern to it, Ramsey will often align to the same side as a team’s #1 receiver. Sometimes it’s situational. Sometimes it’s opponent specific. This allows him to be in the vicinity of any route combinations involving the #1. What does this mean for the Bengals? It means that in those situations where they absolutely need to get Chase the ball, they’ll want to find ways to ensure that he does not end up with Ramsey aligned over him.

There are several ways they can do this. Using motion with Chase before the snap is the primary one. He can come out of the huddle aligned to one side, to which Ramsey will match up. Then he can motion across the formation. Ramsey will stay, and Chase will get his matchup against someone else. The 49ers did that with Deebo Samuel on this 3rd down:

I know that pass didn’t go to Samuel, but you can see that the Bengals will have the opportunity to get Chase into favorable matchups by using motion.

Another option is to have other players motion around Chase, which can change how the defense accounts for him before the snap.

On this play from Week 12, the Packers had their #1 receiver (Davante Adams) aligned on the outside to the left of the formation. Ramsey matched up over him. Then the Packers motioned a tight end outside of Adams:

The Rams were playing man coverage here, but they were matching up to the alignment, not to the receiver (as they often do). That led to Ramsey kicking out over the tight end and left Adams to be matched up on a different cornerback, Donte Deayon: