Chase Brown flexes his football IQ in brilliant play for the Cincinnati Bengals

It was a rough weekend for many NFL teams, and this includes for the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Bengals have an offense again, as Joe Flacco was rescued from the Cleveland Browns and sent down to a more southern part of Ohio to see if he could resuscitate the Bengals.

In what was one of the most shocking upsets of the week, Cincinnati couldn't fend off the 0-7 New York Jets. This loss to the Jets wasn’t at the fault of the Bengals’ offense, though. Cincinnati put up 38 puts but still managed to lose, 39-38.

The margin would have been wider if it weren’t for the massive football IQ of former Illinois football running back Chase Brown.

With Cincinnati up 17-10, they were driving and were around midfield when a flea flicker was drawn up. The snap went back to Flacco, and he handed the ball off to Brown.

Brown did what he was supposed to do. He ran up to around the line of scrimmage, but when he turned around to pitch the ball back to Flacco to have him pass it downfield, Brown didn’t. He decided not to pitch Flacco the ball. Why?

When Brown turned around, he saw that a Jets defensive end had beaten the left tackle off the ball and got around him. That defensive end was barreling down on Flacco, and if Brown had pitched him the ball, it would have at least been a sack but more likely a fumble.

Instead, Brown fakes the pitch to Flacco, pulls it down, and runs for 11 yards and a first down. Eight plays later, Cincinnati gets into the end zone to increase the lead to 24-10.

Chase Brown is starting to roll now that a solid quarterback is behind center for Cincinnati

It is amazing what a competent passer can do for a running back. Brown looks like a completely different player over the last couple of weeks.

In the first six games of the season, Brown had a total of 74 carries for 202 yards, which comes out to 2.73 yards per carry. In the last two games, he has had 23 carries for 181 yards, which is 7.87 yards per carry. He has almost had the same number of yards in the last two games as he did in the first six contests.