Trenton Irwin keeps stepping up, and the Bengals will need it to keep winning

The Cincinnati Bengals picked up another win on Sunday, knocking off the Cleveland Browns, 23-10.

With injuries piling up in the wide receivers room, the offense struggled against a solid Browns defense for much of the game. With Tyler Boyd and Tee Higgins sidelined with injuries, it was Trenton Irwin who stepped up once again to help be another target outside of Ja’Marr Chase.

The biggest play of the day for Irwin? I think we all know which one that was.

On the afternoon, Irwin finished with two catches for 58 yards and a touchdown. He recorded the second-most catches for the team, as Chase dominated the targets by Burrow throughout and finished with 10 grabs.

Over the Bengals’ last six games, Irwin has caught 10 passes on 15 targets for 169 yards and two scores, while adding one rush for 11 yards. That span has seen Cincinnati without Ja’Marr Chase for four games, while Boyd and Higgins missed essentially all of Sunday’s win over Cleveland.

Depending on how long Boyd and Higgins are sidelined, Irwin could be seeing his usage continue to go up. He has impressed since joining the roster, and seems he is carving out a solid role as the Bengals begin their division title push.

Interestingly, the Bengals are 7-2 when Irwin catches a pass in his career, dating back to 2020 when his first NFL catch for five yards came in a 37-31 win over the Deshaun Watson-led Houston Texans.

For the Bengals to keep winning, they’ll certainly need Irwin to keep producing with Boyd likely out this week, while Higgins is a big question mark. Tight end Hayden Hurst is also likely out this week with his calf injury.

Going to be fun to see how much Irwin plays a part in it.