Low Positive

Especially because Richardson can't play because he can't see. He has a fractured orbital bone in his eye area. He fractured it during a pre-game warm-up when an exercise band snapped. And now Riley Leonard has a PCL sprain and is week-to-week. They literally have no one to play QB.

According to Schefter, Riley Leonard (the third stringer) is now "week to week" with a PCL strain. When it rains, it pours.

The Steelers are not losing to the Browns, and if the Ravens are out of it by week 18 Lamar won't be playing. And for Cincinnati to get in, they need an already-eliminated Ravens team to beat a Pittsburgh team that has everything to play for. Not likely. And the Ravens will beat Cincinnati this weekend anyway, so none of this will matter. The whole vibe around the Bengals right now is that it's all over. Hendrickson is getting season-ending surgery and Higgins will be in the concussion protocol for multiple weeks. IMO, the playoff teams in the AFC will be as they are now, with only seeding yet to be decided. The only thing perhaps to be decided is the AFC North between the Steelers and Ravens. But I think the Steelers will win that crap show.

The Chargers, who started the year with two great OTs, are now down to playing our favorite OL, Bobby Hart.

Fun game

It only feels like you're suiting up on game days.

1) He lives next to the stadium and was late to meetings all the time. By next to the stadium, I mean a 5-minute walk. 2) He was seen at bars, at closing, on the Saturday night before 1:00 games. 3) If he's too much of a knucklehead for the team that rostered Pacman Jones, he's too much of a knucklehead for any team. But you guys will flip out when the Chiefs sign him. It's the TBD way.

His busting out the whitest griddy this side of Mac Jones was a bit rage-inducing.

When a Mormon kid breaks bad and rebels against the church, they don't do it with a grande Latte.

The biggest weakness of the Bengals weak defense is the LBs and safeties, so attacking the middle of the field with TEs was a smart move.

The whole team and stadium were going nuts, celebrating. But the play clock continued to tick. It was either take the TO, or take a delay of game and make the PAT longer. And the point mattered more than the TO in that moment, because it made the lead 4 instead of 3. You could argue it's his job to keep the team from celebrating, but that's easy for me to say from my couch.

I was mad about the easy completion to Gesicki, but the actual TD pass was Burrow and Higgins making a play. The Bills didn't "let" him make a one-handed catch while falling backwards. He was covered and made a play anyway.

11 - This is how it was always going to be - When the Bengals get even moderate QB play, they make plays and score points. The only time that wasn't true was their final two games with Flacco, where you could tell they had given up a bit. But they were reenergized with the return of Burrow, and were playing with their entire offense for the first time since week 2. There is no world where the Bills could have played defense in a way that could prevent them from making big plays. Two of Burrow's TD passes (1st to Higgins and the one to Brown) were defended well. They just made a play. Blaming the Bills defense for that would be like blaming the Bengals defense for that pass to Shakir. Sometimes the other team makes big plays in big games. The task for the Bills was to shut down Chase (which they did), and stick around long enough to be around to pick up the pieces when the Bengals inevitably broke their fans' hearts yet again.

They held Ja'Marr Chase to 5 catches for 44 yards. Yes, Higgins had a big day. But any Chase catch is a TD waiting to happen. Keeping the ball out of his hands had to be a major part of the game plan, and they accomplished that. It's something that isn't getting talked about, but Benford did a masterful job, and he won't have a tougher assignment moving forward.

The game went exactly as a lot of other Bengals games went this season. Usually, Ja'Marr Chase makes plays. If you take him away, then Tee Higgins makes plays. IF you cover everything, they still have Gesicki and Iosivas. There is no way to stop all of it when they are rolling, and even if you do everything right, they still make plays. Higgins first TD was an incredible throw and an even more incredible catch that was well defended. Sending all-out blitzes also carries risk because it puts your DBs on islands. That's how that Gesicki TD happened. My point is that the Bengals, when fully healthy, are always going to make plays and score points. But what their offense gives them, their defense takes away. The key to this game was getting a few stops (they punted twice) and scoring when we had the ball. For the most part, the Bills did all that and would have won comfortably if Ty Johnson hadn't tripped and Cook could hold on to the ball.

Just in time for the start of the new Pats dynasty.

You make a good point. The talk here in Cincinnati for the past few weeks is that Al Golden "simplified" the defense to get better play from the scrubs he has at his disposal. They're not running any stunts, and they're not disguising coverages. It all worked against an imploding Ravens team, and everyone thought the problems were fixed. I guess not.

Next thing they're going to try to tell you is that "Bracketology" is not an actual academic discipline.

Bizzaro World Bengals

More sad than mad.

Living in Cincinnati, I watch the Bengals a lot. They do this all the time. The offense scores points, seemingly at will. Guys make unbelievable plays. Highlight reel stuff. But then they lose in ways that just crush their fans. Today was pretty typical of the way they have played all season, with both Burrow and Flacco. In fact, the most remarkable thing about the game today was the fact that the Bills somehow kept Ja'Marr Chase in check.

Punts and FGs. Just what we all love to see.

He's a pro.

I didn’t either. I had to look it up.