The Buffalo Bills face off in yet another big AFC matchup this week, taking on the Cincinnati Bengals in their second straight battle against an AFC North opponent. The Bills dispatched the Pittsburgh Steelers last week, overcoming a poor offensive showing in the first half on the way to a 26-7 victory.
While last week’s game had great playoff leverage, this week’s contest shows no let-up in that regard. The Bills can keep pace with their AFC foes with a win, and they can all but guarantee that the Bengals will be out of the playoffs at the same time. With a loss, though, Buffalo runs the risk of falling out of the playoff picture entirely.
The Bills are dealing with injuries — again — at some key positions, so they’ll need to do what they’ve done all year and come up big with reserves at key positions. Buffalo will likely need practice-squad call-ups to contribute on Sunday if they want to earn their ninth victory on the season.
Here are five Bills to watch this week against the Bengals.
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Josh Allen is obviously important, as he needs to find space in the passing game against a Cincinnati defense that has allowed more yards through the air than any team in the league this season. However, the Bengals’ run defense has allowed more rushing yards than any team other than the New York Giants this year, and given their strength on offense with quarterback Joe Burrow returning, it would benefit Buffalo to have long, sustained drives this week.
If the Bills allow Cook to, well, cook, then it will keep Cincy’s offense off the field. Any time the Bills don’t have to guard wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins (the latter of whom is moving through concussion protocol) it’s better for Buffalo. It will also be better for my overall heart health. The Bengals obviously know that the Bills want to establish the run, but if they sell out to stop it, then that should open things up through the air for Allen.
Making sure that Cook has a good start to this one will set the exact tone Buffalo wants to set. I don’t expect 30 reps of duo or weak zone, but a steady diet of No. 4 is likely to be on the menu come Sunday.
I don’t know if tight end Dalton Kincaid will play, but I’m quite confident that wide receiver Joshua Palmer will be out once again. Someone has to make plays in the passing game, and that someone has to be Shakir.
Will the Bengals try to take him away via double-teams? Potentially. Will the Bills look to counter blitz packages by having Allen throw quick-screens to Shakir in the slot? Indubitably. Should offensive coordinator Joe Brady use Shakir on some other, more creative routes this week that might allow Buffalo’s top passing-game target to operate in the intermediate and deep areas of the field? I certainly hope so. If they can’t do it against the Bengals, then what team will they be able to do it against?
Even in their excellent defensive effort last week, Cincinnati allowed 346 total yards of offense. That was their second-best performance of the season. They allowed 223 passing yards, which was also their second-best performance this year. The five turnovers they forced really swung the game.
If Buffalo can protect the football, there are yards to be had. Shakir needs to be a focal point of the passing attack this weekend.
Joey Bosa earned the dreaded “week-to-week” designation from head coach Sean McDermott. A.J. Epenesa became the latest Buffalo player to injure himself in practice, as he missed Thursday’s session with a foot injury (though he was a full-go on Friday).
That means that Solomon and Greg Rousseau are the only two defensive ends on Buffalo’s roster who are considered fully healthy, which means we’re almost certain to see at least one player called up from the practice squad to fill in this week. Will it be Morgan Fox, the player Buffalo signed to the practice squad after Michael Hoecht tore his Achilles tendon earlier this season? Or will it be old friend Shaq Lawson, who signed with Buffalo’s practice squad just two days before Thanksgiving? It could also be Andre Jones Jr., who has five career tackles in 16 games between the 2023 and 2024 seasons with the Washington Commanders.
Regardless of who it is, Solomon will have to step up this week in what will likely be his greatest amount of action — last year’s meaningless Week 18 matchup notwithstanding — in his young career to date. If he can channel some of that Troy State magic on Sunday, he could make an impact against one of the NFL’s truly elite passers.
Any time a team has wideouts as talented as Cincinnati’s, the corners are going to be stressed. Add in the fact that the Bengals are an excellent running team, as well, and Buffalo’s cornerbacks are in for a tough assignment.
Benford has shadowed teams’ top receivers of late, but with the Bengals, the Bills will have to pick their poison if they want to go that route. Do they want Benford to run with the bigger, more physical player in Tee Higgins? Or do they want him to try to run with arguably the most talented receiver in the NFL in Ja’Marr Chase?
Benford has the size/speed combo to give Higgins problems, and while he’s not slow, someone with Chase’s speed could be a tough assignment. I think I’d have Benford playing Higgins, using a safety over the top to help on Chase as I used another speedster for that assignment. In any case, Benford is going to need to continue his hot streak this week.
I know. Veteran cornerback Tre’Davious White has been playing great of late, and he out-snapped Hairston by a significant margin last week as the rookie came back from a concussion he suffered against the Houston Texans. However, the Steelers were a run-heavy team, and that necessitated corners who were ready to slog it out in the mud. That’s something that White is better suited for at this point in his career. What White isn’t suited for any longer is chasing speed-demons downfield.
That’s where Hairston comes into play. Is it a tall ask to have a rookie shadow someone as talented as Ja’Marr Chase? Of course it is. However, these kinds of scenarios are exactly why Buffalo made Hairston their first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. They knew that they needed to add speed and athleticism to the defensive secondary in order to keep up with some of the league’s better receivers.
I expect Hairston to play a much bigger role in this week’s game than he did last weekend. Look for the Bengals to try to beat him on a double-move at some point if he’s lined up across from Chase. If it happens, let’s hope that Hairston and his blazing speed are up to the task.