Entering in on a 3 game winning streak, the Bengals were presented with yet another tough challenge, as they look to continue their resurgence in the AFC. Though Buffalo has been dealing with some injuries of their own, their offensive firepower is no joke. As well, they were out for revenge after losing in embarrassing fashion to the Bengals in last year’s Divisional Playoff round.
The Bengals won the toss and elected to receive. The RB’s got involved right out of the gate. First Mixon, and then Treyveon Williams, with the two combining to get Cincy into Buffalo territory. After much was made of the team’s TE situation last week, Tanner Hudson was promoted to the active roster, and they wasted no time getting him involved. An 18 yard pass to Higgins was the longest play of the drive, and further advanced the ball into Buffalo territory. Finally, the drive ended with an 11 yard strike to another TE. It was Irv Smith on the end of this one, which was good to see after some of his recent performances haven’t been up to par. 7-0 Bengals.
The Bills answered pretty quickly with a TD to tie the game. A 34 yard catch by Diggs propelled them forward, and a 22 yard catch by Shakir kept it going even further. The chunk yardage continued for Buffalo, as Allen was able to find Kincaid for another 13 yards. Now on the Cincinnati 2 yard line, Josh Allen ran it in for the score, using a pump fake to cause Nick Scott to bite and open up a lane. 7-7.
A taunting penalty on Allen forced the Bills to kickoff from the 20 yard line, allowing Treyveon Williams to return it to the Cincy 31. Then, a roughing the passer call quickly advanced the ball near midfield. The Bengals were able to dink and dunk their way up the field, before completing a string of intermediate passes to Boyd, Hudson, and Higgins, respectively. That last one to Higgins put the ball at the Buffalo 2 yard line. Their attempts on 1st and 2nd down were unsuccessful, but the Bengals were able to get into the endzone on 3rd down, thanks to a Joe Mixon run and some good blocking. 14-7 Bengals.
The offence dried up for both teams over the next several drives. Cincinnati was unable to take advantage of a pick by Cam Taylor-Britt, with a string of penalties and bad mistakes derailing things over that short span. They did, however, get the ball back before the half, and successfully took the ball 45 yards for the score. Surprisingly, it was blocking TE Drew Sample who found the endzone. He did well to take a dump off 22 yards and make a defender miss to get into the endzone. 21-7 Bengals at the half.
Buffalo opened the half with a field goal, making the score 21-10, but the offence once again dried up on both sides. The drives weren’t necessarily entirely poor, but there were some stallouts before scoring position could be reached. The Bills did manage on one occasion to get deeper into Bengals territory, but Germaine Pratt did well to force a fumble after Kincaid made the catch. Nick Scott scooped it up for the turnover.
Well, that turnover finally seemed to wake up the Bengals offence. They followed it up with an 85 yard drive that took over 5 minutes off the clock. There were several chunk plays on this drive, including ones to Hudson, Chase, and Higgins. Once again, the Bengals got down to the Buffalo 2 yard line. However, this time, they could not punch it in. Instead, they sent out Evan McPherson to restore the 14 point lead. 24-10 Bengals.
The Bills gave Cincinnati a scare at the end. Now inching closer to desperation mode, they sliced through the Bengals defence methodically, picking up moderate yardage at a steady pace. Then, Josh Allen took his shot, and found Diggs down the sideline from 17 yards out for the TD. Interestingly, they made the decision to go for 2 points, and were successful in picking it up. It was now 24-18, a 6 point game, putting additional pressure on the Bengals.
In past years, we have seen the Bengals play conservatively in these situations. However, they did just the opposite out of the gate on their next drive. Burrow took a shot deep, and found Tyler Boyd for a 32 yard gain. Afterwards, Joe Mixon was able to pick up the game sealing 1st down after a few handoffs allowed the clock to tick down. It was tight at the end, but the Bengals held on for the win. 24-18 final.
With this win, the Bengals improve to 5-3, further tightening the race in the AFC North and in the AFC as a whole. They remain at home next week, and will take on the Houston Texans.
Modified Featured Image Via: All-Pro Reels (CC)