The Browns and Bengals don’t need any extra motivation ahead of their battle for Ohio to open the season, but Myles Garrett and Ja’Marr Chase are providing some anyway.
On Thursday, Chase took aim at Cleveland, a team that Cincinnati has gone 1-4 against during the Joe Burrow era.
“It feels like a regular game to me,” the Bengals wideout said, via cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot. “It don’t feel no different. It’s just the hooping and hollering about the Cleveland Browns. I was about to call them the elves, but yeah.”
Although Cleveland, which does have a mascot known as Brownie the Elf, has been a thorn in Cincinnati’s side during the Bengals' resurgence, Chase reiterated that the upcoming game takes on no greater significance to him.
“Uh, I don’t really hear it,” he said when asked if he’s tired about all the talk about the Browns. “If you ask me, I don’t really pay attention to it because Cleveland is Cleveland. I look forward to the matchups that we have when we’re facing them, but other than that, I don’t really be caring.”
Garrett, however, heard Chase’s "elves" remark loud and clear.
“See now that was disrespectful,” the two-time All-Pro said Friday. “He didn’t have to go there. The elves was probably … he knew better. We might have to have a discussion before or after the game, maybe during if I see him. But yeah the elves is a little bit too far.”
Garrett did make his comments with a smile, but the Bengals would be wise to avoid drawing his ire.
In nine games against his cross-state rival, Garrett has delivered with 11 sacks, 21 quarterback hits and two forced fumbles.
Chase, meanwhile, has 18 receptions, 194 yards and one score against the Browns, with those numbers fueled largely by his 10-catch performance in a Week 14 win last season, the most recent meeting between the teams.
That’s the tale of the tape for Garrett and Chase as their respective squads ramp up for a run at the AFC North, which has belonged to the Bengals the past two years.
Garrett can hold something else directly over Chase's head, though -- one of his 11 sacks came at the WR's expense during a failed trick play.
“I just want to play ball," Garrett said. "So I mean, I don’t really take offense to it, but I will say I do have a sack on Ja’Marr Chase. I wouldn’t mind adding to it.”