Chase Brown’s Game-Sealing Touchdown Shouldn’t Be An Issue

By Alex Schubert on October 15, 2024

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Football is a game of wins and losses, and the Cincinnati Bengals found themselves on the losing end of four out of their first five games. However, on the national stage against *Chris Berman voice* The New York Football Giants, Chase Brown sealed the Bengals’ second victory with a fourth-quarter scamper into the end zone.

That's a 30-yard TD run by No. 30! @chasebrown____

📺: #CINvsNYG on NBC/Peacock
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/aubBTs5Ekh

— NFL (@NFL) October 14, 2024

While the touchdown secured the victory for the Bengals, it didn’t sit right with everyone.

Chase Brown with the most selfish touchdown of the year

You do not score in that spot. You go down at the 1

— JaguarGator9 (@JaguarGator9NFL) October 14, 2024

Situationally, even though the Bengals came out victorious, that mentality makes some sense. It would have given Cincinnati a chance to run out more clock and ice a win when they desperately needed one. Eliminating the slim possibility for the Giants to get a scoring drive, recover an onside kick, then score again, has been a strategy teams have implemented. Even Brown himself acknowledged that post-game.

“When there’s a lot of space like that, I’m just wired to finish the play,” Brown said. “But obviously, I’ve got to be more situationally aware that I could slide down and end the game right there.”

It also didn’t sit right with head coach Zac Taylor.

“You don’t want to leave it to chance,” Taylor said. “There’s been examples around the league the last 10 years where that’s backfired. Yeah, you’d like to win 17-7. You feel better. But I’ll take a 10-7 win where you don’t leave anything to chance there at the end of the game. So again, that’s something I’ve got to be better at.”

However, even though a Giants win was still possible, ESPN had New York’s win probability after Brown’s touchdown at about 0.2%, or a one-in-500 chance. And that’s not accounting for the fact that Daniel Jones was leading a Malik Nabers-less offense. Brown’s touchdown gave the Bengals a two-possession lead with under two minutes to go. The Giants did end up driving the ball down the field after Brown’s touchdown, but thanks to Greg Joseph’s errant leg, which sent a potential field goal wide left, it was all for naught.

Again looking at ESPN, New York’s chances of winning peaked at 0.6% on their final drive, as the Giants were down by 10 with under a minute to go. Even if Joseph had nailed his field goal, New York would have had to convert an onside kick, which has happened just once in 14 attempts since the new onside kick rules were implemented. And that was just for the chance to march down the field for a touchdown in 51 seconds, then secure the extra point (for overtime) or a two-point conversion (for the win). That’s what we in the industry call “a big ask.”

As for Brown himself, the touchdown gave him a needed boost of confidence after only having 9 carries for 25 yards prior to the touchdown run. Right now, he’s fighting for playing time, trying to set himself apart from a struggling Zack Moss, who had six carries for 13 yards and a lost fumble.

Not to mention, Brown also needed to make up for fumbling the ball on the play prior. The Giants had numerous opportunities to recover the loose ball, but instead, it rolled out of bounds. Converting the touchdown on the next play doubled as a statement to the Giants that said “his is what happens when you squander a golden opportunity to take the ball from us. That play turned a potential go-ahead drive for New York to a 10-point deficit and nearly hopeless situation.

It also gave the Bengals a double-digit win on the road in prime time. Yes, laying down at the one would have sealed the victory. But Brown’s touchdown enabled the Bengals to not just win, but to make a statement on the national stage. Cincinnati has been struggling all season, so to earn a double-digit win on the road instead of narrowly beating a below-average Giants team helps reaffirm that the Bengals are still a team worth watching. It also gave the Bengals a positive point differential for the first time all season, which says something for a team that was 1-4.

The Texans are 5-1 and only +8 in point differential.

The 3-3 Broncos are +16
The 2-4 Bengals are +5
The 2-4 Jets are +7

— 7️⃣1️⃣6️⃣ TJ (@TJDMCR) October 15, 2024

If the game would have remained a one-possession game with Brown scoring a touchdown, it’s definitely a different story. Then, you’re vulnerable, as we’ve seen in the NFL before. When Todd Gurley famously scored with a minute to go in 2020 in a Falcons loss to the Lions, Atlanta was down by two, and Gurley’s TD gave Atlanta a six-point lead that Matthew Stafford promptly wiped out. Heck, a play like that almost decided Super Bowl XLVI, when then-Giants running back Ahmad Bradshaw scored the winning touchdown with under a minute to go, giving Tom Brady a chance to win the game, and frankly, it’s still mind-boggling that didn’t work out.

Brown’s touchdown, on the other hand, gave Cincinnati a ten-point lead. It put the game well out of reach for a Giants team whose offense only scored seven points in 59 minutes, even with a sizable advantage in the time of possession battle. The Bengals still came out victorious, and Brown helped provide a spark to an offense that has gravely struggled outside of Joe Burrow’s historic first-quarter touchdown run.

“It was a messy game, especially the fumble before that play,” Chase said in a postgame interview with Cincinnati media affiliate WLWT. “It was bittersweet — fumble, then that touchdown. But, how I’m feeling right now, I’m just motivated, I want to be better, this whole offense wants to be better. We’re excited about next week and how we’re going to respond.”

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