Those two wideouts, who were both second-round draft picks out of Ole Miss in 2019, are considered to be difficult matchups in terms of size and athleticism, but while Taylor-Britt said he just did his job of “being annoying” against Metcalf, what worked against him might not necessarily do so against Brown.
“They’re both big, but I wouldn’t say they’re similar in a way,” Taylor-Britt said. “You know, I’m not thinking about last year at all. It’s all about the Eagles and this team. I got to go get it, you know? But, yeah, they’re two different receivers in a way. Body size, though, yeah, they’re similar.”
Brown, who is 6-foot-1 and 226 pounds, is closer in comparison to the 6-foot-4, 236-pound Metcalf than he is the other part of the Eagles’ “dynamic duo” at receiver. DeVonta Smith, a 6-foot, 170-pound speedster, and Brown make up one of the strong one-two punches in the league because of their diverse skill sets.
That’s why Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo doesn’t even want Taylor-Britt thinking of how he did against Metcalf last year because of the possibility he will be facing both Brown and Smith on Sunday. It seems more likely Taylor-Britt ends up traveling with Brown, but if that’s not the case, the two will still match up plenty.
“Big, strong, fast, can go up and get it,” Anarumo said of Brown. “He has a really good, big catch radius. He’s strong at the catch point. He had that one-handed great catch against us in the divisional (playoff) game (in the 2021 season with the Titans). He’s proven he can take a slant and go a long way with it as well as go down the field. He’s got all the traits of a No. 1 receiver, and that’s what he is.”
Brown missed three games early this season because of injury but returned two weeks ago and had 116 yards on six catches, including a 22-yard touchdown, and he grabbed a 41-yard touchdown from Jalen Hurts last week in a win over the Giants.
Anarumo said both he and Smith are fast, but Smith has “elite speed” where Brown has more power, and that makes them “a heck of a duo.”
Cornerback D.J. Turner said the key to handling a team with two different types of receivers like that is just being prepared for what each one does throughout the week and trusting the coaches to put them in the right positions. Asked if it would help to just travel with one guy, Turner said that doesn’t matter.
“You just got to know your matchup, know your personnel, and do whatever you need to do to win that rep for whoever you’ll be guarding,” Turner said. “… You just use go into the game, like everybody knows they are two different type of receivers. So yov’re got to go planning throughout the week, and when game time comes, your preparation throughout what he does, what (the other) does will get you in the right position.”
The Bengals have significantly cut down on the explosives they were allowing at a league-worst 12.9 percent rate last year, and they now are among the best in that area. They have allowed explosive plays at a rate of just 8.2 percent, which ranks second in the NFL, but the Eagles will be a great test to that progress.
Philadelphia has been above a 12 percent explosives rate in three of their last four games, all of those ones wins, and not only did Brown have the long touchdown last week at New York, Saquon Barkley recorded runs of 55, 41 and 38 yards against one of the best defensive fronts in the league.
“That’s what they do,” Anarumo said. “You watch the Giants game last week and it was bottle them up, bottle them, bottle them up and then 55 or throw over the top. You’ve got to load up and you’ve got to try to manage the run game as best you can. It puts guys one-on-one, that’s the reality of games like this is we’ve got to win those battles. We’ve just got to keep that mindset of, ‘This is what they’re trying to do, this is who they’re trying to attack, and knowing who you’re covering and know what your gap responsibilities are to try to keep from not allowing those big plays.’ They’ll test you for sure.”
If the Bengals can contain on first and second downs, that could be the key because the Eagles have struggled on third downs, converting only 34 percent of their attempts this season, a stat that had Hurts frustrated this week.
Philadelphia hasn’t had nearly the struggles offensively that Cincinnati’s last two opponents did, though, so this could be the first big chance for the Bengals’ defense to really prove it has turned things around from a slow start.
“We’ve gotten some guys back healthy and regardless of what’s presented in front of us, it’s about us and doing things the right way,” Anarumo said. “It’s not like those guys didn’t have talented players, too. Feeling good about the direction we’re headed, but this a good football team, a really good football team.”
SUNDAY’S GAME
Eagles at Bengals, 1 p.m., CBS, 700, 1530, 102.7, 104.7
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