Bengals (4-8) at Bills (8-4) Sunday, Dec. 7 at Highmark Stadium (Field turf), 1 p.m. ET, TV: FOX Locally WXIX-TV Ch. 19 (Cincinnati) Joe Davis (PBP), Greg Olsen (analyst), Pam Oliver (sideline). Radio: Dan Hoard, Dave Lapham. 700 WLW AM, WEBN-FM (102.7 FM), ESPN1530. National: Sports USA: Bob Socci (PBP), Brandon Noble (analyst)
BUFFALO — For the first time since Week 2, the band is back together for the Bengals offense.
Joe Burrow will be the quarterback, with receivers Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Andrei Iosivas at his disposal. Chase Brown is the feature back with Samaje Perine and Tahj Brooks supporting him. The offensive line is peaking at the right time. Mike Gesicki and Noah Fant are legitimate tight end targets.
In other words, the Bengals have their full arsenal on hand to take on the Bills in Western New York. But Ja’Marr Chase, for one, doesn’t worry about being 5.5-point underdogs in Orchard Park this Sunday – not when you have a superhero has your quarterback.
“I don’t think Joe is the underdog. I think (oddsmakers) are looking at the whole team as the underdog in a situation,” Chase said. “And Joe just (does) what Captain America do – save the day. That’s what we need him to do as a quarterback, as a leader of the offense, or the whole team. We need him to step up and be that guy.”
Helping both Chase and Burrow is the return of Tee Higgins from a concussion suffered in the final minutes of the Nov. 23 loss to New England at Paycor. Higgins leads the Bengals with seven touchdown catches and is tied with Andrei Iosivas in yards per catch (14.4). He has 40 catches,(third behind Chase-86 and Chase Brown-48). He is a huge part of keeping good secondaries like Buffalo’s honest and attacking Sean McDermott’s defenses. Higgins had eight catches for 110 yards in the Nov. 5, 2023 Sunday night win over the Bills and caught three passes for just 28 yards in the snow in the 27-10 playoff win.
The Bengals are coming off a 32-14 victory at Baltimore on Thanksgiving night. The top storyline from Cincinnati’s divisional win over the Ravens was the return of the superhero, who had missed the previous nine games due to a toe injury. After playing through some self-admitted rust in the first half, Burrow appeared sharp in the second half, as he threw two touchdown passes and led four scoring drives to help the Bengals separate.
For Burrow, Thursday night’s result was the culmination of a grueling recovery process that presented challenges both physically and mentally.
“You certainly have those moments after the game,” said Burrow when reflecting on the past two months. “It certainly hasn’t been easy on me through six years from a lot of different angles, but I’ve worked really hard to put myself in position to be back out there, and a lot of people around me have done the same. There’s been a lot of discussions, a lot of time in the training room and just a lot that has gone into this. I’m proud to be back.”
Burrow finished the game 24 of 46 for 261 yards and the two passing scores with no turnovers. While the offense was able to move the ball efficiently throughout the night, it stalled in the red zone on several occasions, but kicker Evan McPherson kept knocking through field goals to reward the possessions with points. McPherson ultimately kicked six field goals, which marked a career high, the most in any NFL game this season and tied for the second-most in a game in Bengals history.
In the third quarter, Burrow finally broke through with a pass to the end zone that tight end Tanner Hudson corralled with one hand for Cincinnati’s first TD, which boosted its lead to 19-7. After a Ravens TD later in the quarter closed the gap, the Bengals’ offense answered with another methodical drive which ended with a pinpoint scoring pass from Burrow down the seam to wide receiver Andrei Iosivas.
On the other side of the ball, defensive coordinator Al Golden’s unit enjoyed perhaps its best performance of the season in Week 13. Cincinnati forced five turnovers, including four fumbles, and allowed season-lows in points (14) and completion percentage (53.1). Among the top contributors were defensive end Joseph Ossai, whose first career multi-sack game included a strip-sack of Lamar Jackson in the opening quarter, and edge Cedric Johnson, who had his first two career fumble recoveries.
The Bengals’ lone interception was a game-changer early in the fourth quarter, as Baltimore was driving inside the red zone with a chance to cut into a 12-point deficit. Edge Myles Murphy reached his hand up to deflect Jackson’s pass near the line of scrimmage, and rookie linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr. came down with the pick before returning it 39 yards. The play set up a Cincinnati scoring drive which extended its lead to 15 with a McPherson field goal.
“I think the coaches did a great job with the plan,” said head coach Zac Taylor on the defensive effort. “I thought Al called a great game. The
players bought into it, and now you start to see when you get confidence and are getting those turnovers, they start to come in bunches. We’ve got to continue to build off that. So now, there’s real evidence of it paying off for us, and just continue to ride that momentum and keep finding ways to get the ball off people.”
The Bengals now head into the final month of the season sitting two games behind Pittsburgh and Baltimore (both 6-6) in the AFC North Division standings. One cause for optimism in Cincinnati can be found in the team’s record late in the season in recent years, as the Bengals have compiled a 14-3 mark in regular-season games played in December and January dating back to the 2022 campaign.
Cincinnati will take on a Bills team that ranks near the top of the NFL in several offensive metrics, including rushing yards per game (first, 155.7) and total yards per game (second, 381.0). Buffalo is 8-4 on the year and is coming off a 26-7 road win at Pittsburgh in Week 13.
The series: Buffalo has been a fairly consistent non-division opponent for Cincinnati over the years. Sunday’s game will mark the 16th time since 2002 that the two teams have met. That stretch includes 15 regular-season meetings (though one was canceled), as well as one postseason contest.
The series is tied 17-17 overall (regular-season and postseason), and the Bengals and have won six of the last eight, including a 27-10 victory in a Divisional Playoff in the 2022 season at Buffalo. The Bills last won in 2019 in a game played at Buffalo, where they are 10-6 against the Bengals in the series. In postseason matchups between the two clubs, the Bengals lead 3-0.
Historically, the series has somewhat of a streaky nature. Prior to Cincinnati’s current six-of-eight stretch, which began with a win over Buffalo in 2011, both teams had strung together fairly long streaks of victories against each other. From 1989 through 2010, the Bills won 10 straight against the Bengals, the second longest winning streak on record by any team against Cincinnati (Pittsburgh won 11 straight against the Bengals from 2015-20). The Bills amassed that long winning streak after suffering a loss in the biggest game in series to date, the 1988 AFC Championship at Riverfront Stadium. The Bengals won that contest 21-10, advancing to Super Bowl XXIII. The AFC Championship win gave Cincinnati a five-game winning streak over Buffalo at the time, the Bengals’ longest in the series.
Here’s what to look for:
- When the Bengals have the ball:
Joe Burrow could have his hands full against the Bills Sunday if he intends to pass the ball a lot. The Bills have the No. 1 ranked pass defense in the NFL, allowing just 163.2 yards per game. That’s in part because teams are running the ball at will against them. Teams are averaging 141.3 yards per game, so this could be a game for Chase Brown and Samaje Perine (and maybe even the returning Tahj Brooks) to gash and dash. Ironically, only the Bengals (153.3) and NY Giants (154.2) allow more. Chase Brown has gone over 100 scrimmage yards in six straight games for a Bengals record. Brown is averaging 4.4 yards a clip on his runs, which is 25th out of 53 qualifying leaders. That is a good number for a pass-heavy team like the Bengals. The strength of the Bills defense is their secondary, led by fourth-year corner Christian Benford, who will likely draw Ja’Marr Chase. Throw in Tre’Davious White and Taron Johnson, along with safeties Jordan Poyer and Cole Bishop, and you have as solid a group as you’ll find. Chase needs just 29 yards receiving for another 1,000-yard season.
- When the Bills have the ball:
The reverse of course is true for the Bills. They have the most potent run game in the NFL, led by James Cook and quarterback Josh Allen. Cook is second in the NFL with 1,228 yards and fifth at 5.32 yards per carry. The Bills run a “duo” offense in which the offensive line likes to double-team defensive linemen or linebackers to open holes for their backs. Allen has a huge arm, of course and can sling it with the best of them but the Bengals would rather see Allen the passer than Allen running wild out of the pocket and making plays with his arms and legs. This is what the Bengals have done so well with him in 2022 when they beat him in the AFC Divisional Round in Orchard Park and in 2023 on Sunday Night Football at Paycor. Myles Murphy has done a terrific job of setting the edge in the run game and has really developed his game. He absolutely needs to do that this Sunday against Buffalo run schemes. He’s also been getting great upfield push in the pass game, along with Joseph Ossai, Cam Sample and Cedric Johnson.
- Bottom Line:
The Bengals have a long history at Rich/Ralph Wilson/New Era/Highmark Stadium, starting with Horst Muhlmann’s last-second field goal in 1973 that lifted the Bengals to a 16-13 win in the first year of the stadium. This is likely going to be their last trip here, barring another playoff appearance, before the Bills literally move across Abbott Road to the new Highmark Stadium. In 15 previous meetings, including the one playoff game, the Bengals are 5-9 all-time in the facility. The Bengals are playing more to their potential (again) in December and as along as they don’t gift-wrap possessions and points to the Bills, they should find another way to win to continue momentum into a massive game next week at home against Baltimore.
Bengals 26, Bills 23
