Orchard Park, NY (WGR550) – The Buffalo Bills completed a terrific fourth-quarter comeback to defeat the Cincinnati Bengals 39-34 on Sunday, moving to 9–4 on the season. Here are my Arrows Up and Down from the contest, starting Up once again after another victory:
ARROW UP
The comeback!
The Bills were down 14-3 midway through the second quarter. They trailed by ten heading into the fourth quarter. Then an avalanche of 21 points scored in 4:30 was a great example of why you just keep playing the game, even when things aren’t going right, and keep trying to make a play. That’s what they did.
Sean McDermott’s aggressiveness
A big story of this game was the Bills going for it and fourth down in critical situations, including at the Bengals 3-yard line, up four points, with a chance to go up 7 points with only 3:09 remaining. Instead, McDermott left the offense on the field and the result was a touchdown to take an 11-point lead. Earlier in the game, the Bills took a penalty on an extra point and moved it to the 1-yard line and went for two points instead of kicking. They converted. That proved to be critical, as well, and it was after going for a 4th and 4 from the Bengals 11-yard line. That also resulted in a touchdown.
CB Christian Benford
For the second week in a row, Benford scored a defensive touchdown. This time, on an incredible athletic play, as he was blitzing, to recognize the pass, stop, jump, grab the ball, and then take it the other way 63-yards for the score and the Bills first lead of the game. Benford was also matched up on Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase most of the game. Chase finished with just 5 catches for 44 yards. Benford also had the Bills only sack and one pass breakup.
QB Josh Allen
The reigning league Most Valuable Player played like the MVP, especially when his team needed him most. Allen was 22-for-28 (78.6%) for 251 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for another 78 yards, including a huge 40 yard touchdown run when the Bills were down ten points and needed a quick score, on top of a 17-yard scramble on 3rd and 15 with less than two minutes left. Without that conversion, the Bills would have punted the ball back to Cincinnati with a chance to win it. Instead, Buffalo was able to kneel it out.
TE Dawson Knox
Knox had a terrific game, catching six passes for 93 yards. The Bills went to him on the first play of the game for 32 yards and then continued to feed him. He led the team with seven targets.
TE Dalton Kincaid
Kincaid also had a big game, grabbing 4 passes for 41 yards and a touchdown.
OC Joe Brady’s tight end game plan
I, and others, noted all week how poor the Bengals were against tight ends. Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady did exactly what he needed to do by making them a focal point of the Bills game plan. It was smart, and paid off. Bills tight ends totaled a whopping 11 catches for 137 yards, including Knox, Kincaid, and Jackson Hawes, who scored a TD on his only reception.
Jordan Phillips/AJ Epenesa interception
Just after Christian Benford scored his touchdown to put the Bills up for the first time, on the very next Bengals snap, Jordan Phillips got his hand up to bat the Joe Burrow pass into the air and AJ Epenesa pulled it down for an interception. Back-to-back interceptions, which led to two straight touchdowns and an 11-point lead for the Bills.
Run defense
The Bills run defense was excellent all afternoon. They never allowed the Bengals to become a two-dimensional offense, limiting them to just 62 yards on the ground and a 3.3 yard per carry average. Chase Brown, who had over 500 yards over his last six games, ran for just 23 yards and averaged 1.9 yards per run.
Second half defensive adjustments
The Bills first half defense was not good. They were allowing the Bengals to move the ball down the field, converting third downs, and score points. That changed in the second half when Bobby Babich decided to start pressuring more.
Third down and fourth down offense
The Bills were 6-for-11 (54.5%) on third down and 3-for-4 (75%) on fourth down. That’s 9-for-15 (60%) on these two downs overall.
K Matt Prater
On a snowy field, Bills kicker Matt Prater was a perfect 4-for-4 on extra points and converted his only field goal attempt.
RB James Cook
Cook totaled 80 yards rushing and another 31 yards receiving for 111 yards on the day.
No punts!
The Bills did not punt in this game.
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ARROW DOWN
3rd down defense
The Bills third down defense was terrible in this game. Cincinnati converted 10-of-12 third downs (83.3%). Buffalo’s defense really struggled to get off the field despite quite a few big opportunities.
Start of the game
The Bengals scored touchdowns on their first three possessions. The Bills scored one touchdown and one field goal in the entire first half. The score was 14-3 and 21-11 early.
DB Cam Lewis
Lewis was picked on all afternoon by the Bengals, who took advantage of his smaller size with their bigger tight ends and running back Semaje Perine.
CB Taron Johnson
Johnson was also victimized by the size of Bengals pass catchers a bit too often. He was the closest defender chasing tight and Mike Gesicki on a big fourth quarter touchdown, but tough to tell if it was his responsibility.
DE Greg Rousseau
In a game the Bills were missing Joey Bosa, they needed Rousseau to be presence as a pass rusher. He finished with one total tackle and one QB hurry.
Pass rush overall
The Bills had almost no pass rush rot speak of most of the game, especially from their front four. They had one sack – and that was by a defensive back – and were credited with just five QB hurries.
Ty Johnson’s slip
On the Bills first drive, running back Ty Johnson was staring at what looked to be an easy walk-in touchdown but couldn’t keep his footing and slipped. The Bills wound up kicking a field goal.
James Cook’s fumble
With the Bills looking to take their first lead of the game, on a 1st and goal from the 2 yard line, James Cook fumbled the ball into the end zone. Cincinnati recovered to take possession. It was Cook’s fourth fumble the last two games, and second fumble lost in that time.
Soft coverage….again
The Bills, once again, had far too soft of coverage on Bengals receivers, especially early in the game, giving Joe Burrow easy pitch-and-catch plays to gain yards and keep drives alive. It was too reminiscent of their 2022 playoff game.
Calling timeout after the touchdown
After the Benford touchdown, the Bills were up three points. The extra point made it more than a failed goal game. So when the play clock was winding down and they were in danger of having a delay of game, instead of just taking the five yard penalty and having Matt Prater still kick it, Sean McDermott used a timeout, which fortunately wasn’t needed later in the game.
Red zone offense and defense
The Bills were just 3-for-5 (40%) in the Bengals red zone, while Cincinnati converted all three of their red zone trips into touchdowns.
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