Bengals RB Debate Heats Up After Samaje Perine Outperforms Chase Brown

The story of the day for the Cincinnati Bengals offense in their 31-24 win over the Miami Dolphins wasn’t the running game. It was an extremely efficient day for Joe Burrow, who threw for just 190 yards but completed 23 of 32 passes for a 71.9% completion percentage, including a deep-shot touchdown to Ja’Marr Chase and three red-zone scores. 

While the running game wasn’t the story of the game, it was the story of the week, as Cincinnati’s ground game had been extremely disappointing through the first four weeks of the season. They ranked #27 in the NFL in rush yards per carry and rush yards per game coming into Sunday, as Chase Brown, expected to have a big year and be a focal point of the offense, has been very inefficient. 

After Sunday, a change could be on the horizon, as Samaje Perine out-carried Brown 14-to-13 for 68 yards, while Brown had 39 yards and Perine scored a red-zone receiving touchdown. It was the first time Perine had run for 50 or more yards since the Bengals' narrow loss to the New York Jets in late October of last season. 

The idea of replacing Brown started circulating among the Bengals fanbase this past week, but Perine’s lack of production on his snaps didn’t give much faith that Brown’s replacement was on the roster. However, given much more of a leash, Perine was more productive than Brown while still not having an extremely explosive game. 

This is only the second time since Chase Brown emerged as the Bengals' starting running back that he has received fewer carries than Perine. 

Unfortunately for Brown, he also fumbled after making a catch in the second quarter, so the lack of production isn’t the only reason Bengals coaches might gripe about giving him the ball. 

This doesn’t mean Perine will be the feature back going forward, but it's worth watching over the next few weeks, as Cincinnati could go to more of a time share in the backfield instead of letting Brown run the show. 

The Bengals' running game has to reach league average if they truly want to compete for a Super Bowl, like everyone in the organization. While the passing offense continues to look elite, the offseason plan to run under center and use play action to create explosive plays and open up the running game has not panned out.