There’s a buzz building for Ja’Marr Chase’s return to Louisiana, but it’s not coming from inside the Bengals locker room. It’s crackling in the air of New Orleans’ Westbank, where family and friends, strangers and store owners are fired up for Chase’s homecoming.
“Man, everything is snowballing,” said Jimmy Chase, Ja’Marr’s father. “I was on DEFCON Level 3 yesterday, and I woke up today at DEFCON Level 5. And it’s just Wednesday.”
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Level 1 is actually the highest alert on the DEFCON scale, but you get the point.
The day the Bengals selected Ja’Marr with the No. 5 pick in the draft, one of the first things Jimmy said he thought about was when he would get a chance to play the Saints in New Orleans.
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Sunday is the day Jimmy and Toeleah Chase will make the 15-minute drive to watch their son play in the Superdome for the first time since teaming with Joe Burrow to lead LSU to the 2019 National Championship.
“Ja’Marr’s got everybody down here on notice, man,” Jimmy said. “Everybody’s excited about him coming home.”
Jimmy said he was a huge Saints fan before Ja’Marr landed in Cincinnati. But he struggled to place the proper tense on Toeleah’s fandom.
“Ja’Marr’s mom, she used to be a diehard — well, she is a diehard — I don’t know how to say that. She is or she used to be a diehard Saints fan,” he said. “But now she’s getting people to choose a side this week. Because we’re keeping receipts.”
Their inner circle of 50 will be holding a Bengals tailgate in the gulf of black and gold before heading inside to watch Ja’Marr from their seats near midfield behind the Cincinnati bench. Ja’Marr always knows where his parents are sitting because they let him know during a break in pregame warmups.
Sunday, he hopes he’ll know just by the sound.
“There will be a lot of people there,” he said. “It’s exciting to play in front of all those guys.”
While Ja’Marr used the word “exciting,” his demeanor was anything but while speaking with reporters Wednesday. He delivered most of his answers in a deliberate, matter-of-fact manner, which was intentional.
He doesn’t want to make the game about him. And he doesn’t want to make it into anything more than just another game on the schedule.
That’s not a façade. Bengals wide receivers coach Troy Walters has seen the same approach from Ja’Marr all week.
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“It’s an exciting time. You’ve got a lot of family, a lot of friends. But you can’t treat it like it’s a different game,” Walters said. “The preparation is still the same. The focus still has to be the same. You don’t change anything. In fact, sometimes it can be a hindrance because sometimes you might have more people pulling at you at the hotel, people wanting to see you, and you’re not able to just go up to your room and relax and rest. Sometimes it can be an issue if you don’t handle it the right way.”
That’s why Ja’Marr will be breaking his routine and getting out of the hotel Saturday night. The receivers typically have food ordered in the night before the game, but he can’t go home without getting a voodoo roll — basically a Cajun egg roll with crawfish — from New Orleans Food and Spirits.
Chase said he’ll make a reservation for the group so they can try some of his other favorite dishes like the shrimp fettuccine. He’s organizing the excursion, but he made one thing clear:
“The meal ain’t on me.”
By Sunday morning, it will be back to the routine as the Bengals try to rebound from the 19-17 loss to the Ravens that dropped them to 2-3 and 0-2 in the AFC North Division. But no number of pregame rituals will prevent a rush of nostalgia when he and Burrow walk into the building where they capped a 15-0 season with LSU in January 2020.
“It’s a place that a lot of good memories were made,” Burrow said. “But it’s a business trip. We’re going in to win a game. I’m excited to go back, excited to see all the fans that supported me, but they’re not going to be cheering for us this time.”
Ja’Marr Chase and Joe Burrow during the College Football Playoff National Championship game at New Orleans’ Mercedes-Benz Superdome in 2020. (Chris Graythen / Getty Images)Burrow threw five touchdown passes in that game, two of which went to Chase as he finished with nine catches for 221 yards. There were some games like that last year as he went on to win the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award, but defenses are doing whatever they can to make sure Chase doesn’t light them up this season.
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He had 129 yards and a touchdown in the opener against the Steelers, but in the four games since, Chase has just 22 catches for 214 yards.
“I want to be the best player on the field. I want to star, to put up the crazy stats for sure, but whatever is helping the team win,” he said. “If there’s any way possible I can help the team win, I don’t have to go crazy. I’m not really trippin’. I just want to win games and make sure we get into the playoffs and push forward.”
Chase may not be trippin’, but he admitted he’s frustrated, although he refuses to show it.
“He’s a competitor, so any time he’s getting doubled and they’re trying to take him out of the game with multiple guys, he gets frustrated,” Walters said. “But he doesn’t let that affect his play. He just kind of understands this is what they do to great players.
“As coaches, we’ve got to find ways to move him around and create matchups,” Walters added. “When his number is called, he’s always ready. Every game teams do different things and double him different ways, it’s a learning opportunity for him.”
In patience. And in poise.
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With each passing possession that doesn’t feature Chase making a big play, defensive backs are letting him know about it.
“Yeah, he’s hearing it a little bit more this year,” Walters said. “The things he did last year, I think he’s on everybody’s radar. It’s their opportunity to show their team what they can do if they can shut him down. So you see more players doing a little more chirping than they did last year.”
And Saints Pro-Bowl cornerback Marshon Lattimore has never shied away from getting in a receiver’s face. The Saints typically travel Lattimore with the other team’s best receiver, so look for him and Chase to be around each other all game.
“Good corner,” Chase said when asked about Lattimore. “He makes good plays with the ball in the air. He holds a little bit, but overall a good corner.”
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After several minutes of trying to talk the media, and perhaps himself, into this being just another game, Chase did allow that it would mean something special to him to go home and have a huge game.
It would mean very much to a lot of other people who will be there wearing No. 1 Bengals jerseys as well.
“Everybody’s excited, and the city is in a buzz,” Jimmy Chase said. “A big game would be the icing on the cake. A three-touchdown game.”
Is that a prediction?
“No prediction right now,” Jimmy said. “Just something I’m hoping for.”
(Top photo: Cooper Neill / Getty Images)
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