Week 9 thread - We’re on to Cincinnati

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

1 minute ago, Scott7975 said:

 

Well, I guess we are going to find out.  Losing head to head against Cinci and LAC most certainly is a meaningful conference loss.  Not only do we lose the head to head against them but it worsens our conference record against teams we won't have a head to head game with.  Those to me are the most important wins, not the meaningless ones.

lac is a huge game if we’re talking wildcard…in all my scenarios I’m just assuming cincy or baltimore is the top wildcard spot. The chargers are as inconsistent or more than the bengals and bills though and they’re starting in a bit of a hole with an extra loss.  
 

They’ve also got ravens,bills,chiefs,lions on the schedule still so we are far from the only team with tough games left.  Also the jets as well which is the part nobody really accounts for in threads like this.  In those scenarios one of two wildcard hopefuls is guaranteed to drop a game 

[PBF81]

54 minutes ago, Scott7975 said:

I think we would be lucky to.  Think about our schedule and what teams have to beat us for us to not win our division. Some of them are the same teams fighting for a wc spot.  Bengals, Chargers, even the Jets are a half game behind us right now lol. If they beat us then they have the head to head.  Then the ones that we don't play, like Pitts and Browns currently have a better conference record.  There are a lot of teams sitting within 1 game of us right now that also won't win their division.

 

Yeah, the schedule is a concern for sure, and things seem to have tightened up behind us this past weekend.  

 

Maybe I'm still in a state of thinking that we cannot possibly continue to play this poorly over our last nine and that given the talent we have on O that we'll shake this funk.  

 

The AFC North is worth keeping an eye on in that regard.  

 

 

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

Just now, DabillsDaBillsDaBills said:

 

I think Purdy and the offense are who they've been all year. The last 2 weeks the DEF has been shredded. Purdy and the O are not nearly as good when playing from behind and he's a turnover machine when trying to make something happen late in games. 

Cincy may be good but people are hypin them up a bit too much from that one win…if SF was looking dominant leading up to that bengals game it would be a different story. 
 

really they just beat a mediocre at best team by two scores who amassed a ton of yards and had a couple boneheaded turnovers. Sf almost outgained their previous two games combined in this one. I’m expecting a shootout on Sunday that could go either way based on red zone success.  

[jletha]

4 minutes ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

Cincy may be good but people are hypin them up a bit too much from that one win…if SF was looking dominant leading up to that bengals game it would be a different story. 
 

really they just beat a mediocre at best team by two scores who amassed a ton of yards and had a couple boneheaded turnovers. Sf almost outgained their previous two games combined in this one. I’m expecting a shootout on Sunday that could go either way based on red zone success.  

Cincy looked like most expected them to look all season yesterday. But this was FAR and away their best game of the year. This is a week to week league. Our offense looked unstoppable against Miami and quite good leading up to that, and then sputtered. A lot of teams can look great for one week and then not the next. Cincy is absolutely stoppable.

 

Will we stop them? Who knows. But to imply its a foregone conclusion seems silly. And our should continue to improve on what we established Thus.

Edited October 30, 2023 by jletha

[uninja]

11 minutes ago, jletha said:

Cincy looked like most expected them to look all season yesterday. But this was FAR and away their best game of the year. This is a week to week league. Our offense looked unstoppable against Miami and quite good leading up to that, and then sputtered. A lot of teams can look great for one week and then not the next. Cincy is absolutely stoppable.

 

Will we stop them? Who knows. But to imply its a foregone conclusion seems silly. And our should continue to improve on what we established Thus.

 

I'd say playing the Bengals this week has the same level of anxiety as a matchup with the Chiefs, or the Eagles, would have. It's good competition, and the result is really anybody's game. The Bengals are definitely not looking at this as a 'game they should win' and neither are we. They've put together some good games and some absolute clunkers, so have the Bills.

[jletha]

1 minute ago, uninja said:

 

I'd say playing the Bengals this week has the same level of anxiety as a matchup with the Chiefs, or the Eagles, would have. It's good competition, and the result is really anybody's game. The Bengals are definitely not looking at this as a 'game they should win' and neither are we. They've put together some good games and some absolute clunkers, so have the Bills.

Yea Im anxious as well. being 6-3 in the log-jam AFC will help tremendously. I think we are the better team. We are the better offense pretty much across the board.

 

Cincy played great on Sunday, lets see if they can continue it.

[HereComesTheReignAgain]

1 hour ago, newcam2012 said:

If that's your measuring stick then what do you make of McD winning success of 44% in the playoffs as a Bills coach?

I would say that a sub .500 playoff record isn't very good.  Just like I would say that Zac Taylor's sub .500 career record is not good.  

Edited October 30, 2023 by HereComesTheReignAgain

[Rich Stadium Original]

Anticipating a very challenging match-up with the Bengals.

Their offensive line is finally getting their act together. Against a seemingly fierce pass rush, Burrow had absolutely all day to throw against SF...just pitch and catch with his wide receivers.  Unless McD can come up with an innovative game plan, I would expect more of the same. The Bills pass rush, which had been the terror of the NFL for the first three weeks, seems to have fallen off a cliff.

So...how much confidence do you have with the Bills offense keeping up in a shootout?

[Royale with Cheese]

41 minutes ago, GottaRun said:

This week I'd say the previous concussion was Purdy's problem.  I say previous because he took a hard hit to the back of the head (head to turf) on the second last play of the game, and it won't shock me if that gave him a another one.

 

I would say it's a combination of missing Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel and Trent Williams.  That's there 3 most important pieces.

[Low Positive]

4 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

 

I would say it's a combination of missing Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel and Trent Williams.  That's there 3 most important pieces.

CMC played the whole game, both this week and last week. He's probably playing hurt, but he is playing.

[longtimebillsfan]

1 hour ago, jletha said:

Yea Im anxious as well. being 6-3 in the log-jam AFC will help tremendously. I think we are the better team. We are the better offense pretty much across the board.

 

Cincy played great on Sunday, lets see if they can continue it.

That is a bold statement considering how the Bills have played over the last four games.

 

When the Bengals were struggling Burrows was dealing with a bad ankle.  He is healthy now and Josh is nursing a damaged wing.

 

This will be an amazing win if we can pull it off.

 

Looking over our remaining schedule I could see us finishing 10 - 7.  Not sure if that would get us into the playoffs.

Edited October 30, 2023 by longtimebillsfan

[Billsfan1972]

1 hour ago, CincyBillsFan said:

It would have been 17 - 14 and the subsequent Bengals TD would have made it 24 - 14. Not seeing how that would have made a big difference. After all, when the Bills scored a TD in the 1st half to cut the lead to 14 - 7 it had no effect on the D which promptly allowed the Bengals to use up the rest of the quarter on a long FG drive.  And only a great play by Millano kept the Bengals from scoring a TD on that drive.

 

Also, missing Diggs on a long pass when Allen was getting crushed by the Bengal's DT is just one play.  What's the excuse for a Bills D that started the game by  allowing the Bengals to have TWO long TD drives to set the tone for the whole game. For crying out loud the game was in Buffalo which generally helped stoke a D.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And that is the story of the Bills Defense.  Way too often things like this happen (long drives, inopportune penalties, 3rd & 4th down conversions).  

 

Supposed to be different with McD calling the plays.

[Warriorspikes51]

L.

Come on Beane!  Do something impactful  (Fournette was a start) 

If we can't have Surtain,  Jaylon Johnson is very good.  Advanced stats argument can be made he's a better player. Only 24

Jaylon & Benford would be solid at CB going forward 

[NewEra]

5 hours ago, balln said:

Their coaches Are measurably better 

Sometimes they.  Sometimes they aren’t.  Andy Reid >> Sean Payton so far this season.  Until Sunday happened. Any given Sunday.  

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

1 hour ago, jletha said:

Cincy looked like most expected them to look all season yesterday. But this was FAR and away their best game of the year. This is a week to week league. Our offense looked unstoppable against Miami and quite good leading up to that, and then sputtered. A lot of teams can look great for one week and then not the next. Cincy is absolutely stoppable.

 

Will we stop them? Who knows. But to imply its a foregone conclusion seems silly. And our should continue to improve on what we established Thus.

The X factor for cincy has always been defense to me, and I don’t think their defense has reached close to the heights of last season yet…doesn’t mean they won’t Sunday though.  They held SF to 17 but so did Minnesota the week before and Cleveland the week before that, SF also piled up 400ish non garbage time yards missing their best offensive player against cincy they just turned it over a few too many times. 

 

last year the bengals were all over the top 10 of the list in all advanced defensive metrics, this year they’re a little under the midpoint.
 

we moved the ball pretty well on a tough TB defense too which was getting a ton of credit around here  before the game with people predicting we’d lose because of it but I don’t see it mentioned much anymore lol I think we’re in for a shootout 

 

 

[jletha]

39 minutes ago, longtimebillsfan said:

That is a bold statement considering how the Bills have played over the last four games.

 

When the Bengals were struggling Burrows was dealing with a bad ankle.  He is healthy now and Josh is nursing a damaged wing.

 

This will be an amazing win if we can pull it off.

 

Looking over our remaining schedule I could see us finishing 10 - 7.  Not sure if that would get us into the playoffs.

Its not that bold. Even if you focus on the last 4 weeks we are the better offense. There is almost no stat the Bengals/Burrow are better at even in the limited set of last 4 games. This is why you cant just extrapolate out of one game. The Bengals were BAD against the Seahawks.

 

After the Miami I thought we might never lose again...things change. Now this doesnt mean Im guaranteeing a win but we have been the better offense to this point in the season.

[longtimebillsfan]

2 minutes ago, jletha said:

Its not that bold. Even if you focus on the last 4 weeks we are the better offense. There is almost no stat the Bengals/Burrow are better at even in the limited set of last 4 games. This is why you cant just extrapolate out of one game. The Bengals were BAD against the Seahawks.

 

After the Miami I thought we might never lose again...things change. Now this doesnt mean Im guaranteeing a win but we have been the better offense to this point in the season.

I hope you are right.

 

I see a beat down coming at the hands of the Bengals. 

[BearNorth]

Yeah, I just looked at the stats and ratings.  Bengals defense this year is pedestrian except for Hendrickson. 

 

If Dorsey lets Josh play with confidence, and minimizes turnovers, this Cinci defense can be had.

 

Our biggest problem as it has been since Daquan was injured it our interior defense, against the run. 

 

We have given up some huge runs, even in games we won.

 

That being said, to beat Cinci you have to control Chase, Boyd, and Higgins. 

 

Their TE, Hurst, who killed us last year has moved on and Smith who replaced him is not of the same quality. 

 

Hoping the Bills bring their 'A' game similar to the last 3 quarters of the Miami game [although we are missing a few key pieces].

[Buddy Hix]

6 hours ago, balln said:

Lock what 

Lock in Cincy -1.5

 

I’ll be surprised if Bills stay within 10 of Cincy.

[boater]

All these posters making the Cincinatti game a referendum on McDermott's entire tenure...

 

One joker said that since the Bills have 10-days to prepare, nothing short of a win will exonerate McD.

 

Some fans are full of it. Thank God they don't run the team.

[AlCowlingsTaxiService]

5 hours ago, finn said:

I'm thinking that the Bills need to surprise the Bengals on both sides of the ball to avoid a blowout. The hurry-up pace Dorsey tried last week is encouraging. I hope they add more wrinkles. It's time to play loose, take some risks. Fake punts, QB runs, going on fourth down, power running, end arounds... This offense is thinking too much. They need to have fun--and stay one step ahead of the Bengals' excellent DC.

 

On defense, maybe replace Dodson with Rapp or Hamlin. Put Rousseau at tackle. Activate the physically talented Elam to erase Chase. Something to flumox an increasingly confident team with momentum.

 

But it's more likely that McDermott will want to stay conservative, kick field goals, play bend-don't-break ball, and hope for a close win. If he does, I predict a Bengals blowout. 

Elam couldn’t “erase” a chalkboard 

[BillsFan2313]

19 minutes ago, Buddy Hix said:

Lock in Cincy -1.5

 

I’ll be surprised if Bills stay within 10 of Cincy.

 

Share your bet

[ngbills]

Just a few weeks ago it was CIN sucks and is done. Now its the Bills have to be at the top of their game to play with them. Reality CIN never went anywhere and were just playing with an injured QB. Game will be a nice test to give everyone a sense of where the Bills are at. 

[Aussie Joe]

11 minutes ago, BillsFan2313 said:

 

Share your bet

$10 max 

[fergie's ire]

4 hours ago, Drew21PA said:

You really feel he has “man skills” after Calvin Ridley are him up!?

 

sheesh people need to let elam go

 

he was a very Bad miss

That's what I meant by "roasted or called for interference/pi".  So no, certainly don't think he has "man skills."

[BillsFan2313]

4 minutes ago, Aussie Joe said:

$10 max 

 

No doubt

[EmotionallyUnstable]

29 minutes ago, boater said:

All these posters making the Cincinatti game a referendum on McDermott's entire tenure...

 

One joker said that since the Bills have 10-days to prepare, nothing short of a win will exonerate McD.

 

Some fans are full of it. Thank God they don't run the team.

Meanwhile the same posters are sharing their thoughts on how the bills could win:

 

-Josh Allen has to play great

- We need big plays on O

- Finish in the RZ

- We have to force turnovers 

- We have to tackle better

- We have to pressure the QB

- We have to shut down their WRs

 

Very insightful stuff. 

[billsfan_34]

20 hours ago, Toyo321 said:

This game is not going to bode well for us.  They "Cinci" are back on track and they really dominated SF.  SF looked really bad against Cinci, and Purdy was a turnover machine.  This is going to be a really tough game Sunday night.  The Bills have to play error free and must force turnovers to win this game.

Facts…Cinci when Burrow is on is a machine.

[BigDingus]

44 minutes ago, boater said:

All these posters making the Cincinatti game a referendum on McDermott's entire tenure...

 

One joker said that since the Bills have 10-days to prepare, nothing short of a win will exonerate McD.

 

Some fans are full of it. Thank God they don't run the team.

 

On the flipside, this board was in complete denial going into the Cincy playoff game last year, so we're just at a low point on team opinion right now.

 

We've seen the Bengals suddenly come alive in recent weeks, won 3 straight, Burrow has 8 TDs/2 INT's in that stretch, and Jamar Chase is averaging 10 receptions/124 yards/1 TD a game over that span. As for the Bills, we've gone 2-1 in that stretch but haven't impressed at all. 

 

So I can understand why fans aren't super confident going into Cincy & beating the Bengals on the road. Do I think it's an indictment on McDermott's entire tenure? No. But I do think if this team comes out flat again, commits a lot of penalties and loses due to unforced errors/turnovers (especially after 10 days to prepare), he will be getting the most heat he's got at any point in his career.

[JTown]

Cincy is too physical on both sides of the ball for our finesse style of play.  I will be shocked if we get out of Sunday nights game without injuries. 

[hondo in seattle]

I don't know what to expect.  

 

So far during the season, we've won three games by 28 points including a big victory over the Fins.  But we struggled against everyone else, including teams that were clearly inferior.  I feel like the team has Dissociative Identity Disorder and suffers from multiple personalities.  If the Good Bills show up, we'll win by a wide margin.  We'll lose if the Bad Bills show up.

 

If a third personality manifests...   who knows?  

 

To me, this game isn't about matchups.  It's about whether or not the Bills choose to be the best version of themselves.  

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

14 minutes ago, JTown said:

Cincy is too physical on both sides of the ball for our finesse style of play.  I will be shocked if we get out of Sunday nights game without injuries. 

They’re 29th in rushing ypg and 29th in rushing yards allowed per game.  I think that’s a much different game Sunday if Trent brown and Deebo were available…they racked up 400 plus yards without those guys. 
 

not saying we’ll win but cincys single game against sf is getting a little bit overblown imo,they haven’t looked like that all year even in their wins.

 
 

 

Edited October 30, 2023 by Generic_Bills_Fan

[EasternOHBillsFan]

1 hour ago, Buddy Hix said:

Lock in Cincy -1.5

 

I’ll be surprised if Bills stay within 10 of Cincy.

 

I already did... -2 is good enough for me, even though it is Monday.

1 hour ago, boater said:

All these posters making the Cincinatti game a referendum on McDermott's entire tenure...

 

One joker said that since the Bills have 10-days to prepare, nothing short of a win will exonerate McD.

 

Some fans are full of it. Thank God they don't run the team.

 

If we lose, we'll be 5-4 and after the Broncos, which doesn't look like an automatic W by ANY MEANS, we get the Jets, Eagles, Chiefs and Cowboys.

 

Fans may not run the team, but fans sure as hell support the team and keep it viable. A piss poor product with all of the talent we have SHOULD be roundly criticized and OBD will hear about it.

[BillsfaninSB]

1 hour ago, Buddy Hix said:

Lock in Cincy -1.5

 

I’ll be surprised if Bills stay within 10 of Cincy.

Sad to see but I agree.  That line is too small.

 

Basically saying the Bills are the favorite since home team gets -3 automatically. 

[Boatdrinks]

1 minute ago, BillsfaninSB said:

Sad to see but I agree.  That line is too small.

 

Basically saying the Bills are the favorite since home team gets -3 automatically. 

Well no , they don’t . It’s more like 1.5 nowadays 

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

6 minutes ago, EasternOHBillsFan said:

 

I already did... -2 is good enough for me, even though it is Monday.

 

If we lose, we'll be 5-4 and after the Broncos, which doesn't look like an automatic W by ANY MEANS, we get the Jets, Eagles, Chiefs and Cowboys.

 

Fans may not run the team, but fans sure as hell support the team and keep it viable. A piss poor product with all of the talent we have SHOULD be roundly criticized and OBD will hear about it.

If this year taught me anything there’s no automatic wins or automatic losses.  A week ago KC looked like a guaranteed loss but now a week later with no nick Bolton they look very beatable.  Cowboys are just the NFC version of us that is wildly inconsistent, philly don’t seem unbeatable either.  We could win or lose any of those games and there’s just no sense in trying to predict anything 😂
 

[EasternOHBillsFan]

10 minutes ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

If this year taught me anything there’s no automatic wins or automatic losses.  A week ago KC looked like a guaranteed loss but now a week later with no nick Bolton they look very beatable.  Cowboys are just the NFC version of us that is wildly inconsistent, philly don’t seem unbeatable either.  We could win or lose any of those games and there’s just no sense in trying to predict anything 😂
 

 

We have only looked good in 3 games all season out of 8... that's FIVE games in which we have looked average or worse. That's not good enough for the playoffs... the only positive is that we haven't gotten blown out, but when you play teams like the Bengals you'll find out real quick what's what. I get the inconsistency of the season argument, but this defense cannot continue to be the only reason why we're in games... our offense must step up and produce.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

2 minutes ago, EasternOHBillsFan said:

 

We have only looked good in 3 games all season out of 8... that's FIVE games in which we have looked average or worse. That's not good enough for the playoffs... the only positive is that we haven't gotten blown out, but when you play teams like the Bengals you'll find out real quick what's what. I get the inconsistency of the season argument, but this defense cannot continue to be the only reason why we're in games... our offense must step up and produce.

I think people are underestimating how good the team was last week against the Bucs. If the Bills went for it on those fourth downs (as they usually do), that was easily a 3-score victory.

 

I think they have found their stride on O.
 

The defense is going to just have to get by unless we get some help, but I think they can be at least a middle of the pack unit.

[MasterStrategist]

50 minutes ago, BigDingus said:

 

On the flipside, this board was in complete denial going into the Cincy playoff game last year, so we're just at a low point on team opinion right now.

 

We've seen the Bengals suddenly come alive in recent weeks, won 3 straight, Burrow has 8 TDs/2 INT's in that stretch, and Jamar Chase is averaging 10 receptions/124 yards/1 TD a game over that span. As for the Bills, we've gone 2-1 in that stretch but haven't impressed at all. 

 

So I can understand why fans aren't super confident going into Cincy & beating the Bengals on the road. Do I think it's an indictment on McDermott's entire tenure? No. But I do think if this team comes out flat again, commits a lot of penalties and loses due to unforced errors/turnovers (especially after 10 days to prepare), he will be getting the most heat he's got at any point in his career.

Obviously will be a tough matchup, but thr praise on Cincy right now-let's review:

1. dominated 49ers, but coming off a bye week and the 49ers are really dinged up.  QB missed time all week, CMac less than 100%, no Trent and no Deebo

 

2. Struggled, but won against Seahawks.  Defense forced critical redzone stops

 

3. Cardinals are worst team in NFL right now, Dobbs about to be benched

 

All to say, NFL is week to week.  We are just as talented and have a QB that can also take over games.  Last week we played a great game, albeit scoreboard didn't show it.  

 

I think it will be a FG finish, both offenses going to move the ball.

[Ya Digg?]

2 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

I think people are underestimating how good the team was last week against the Bucs. If the Bills went for it on those fourth downs (as they usually do), that was easily a 3-score victory.

 

I think they have found their stride on O.
 

The defense is going to just have to get by unless we get some help, but I think they can be at least a middle of the pack unit.

💯 this. At no point Thursday were they not in control, and that thread about the Hail Mary is honestly just ridiculous. So much overanalysis of the Bills and under analysis of the other teams. Makes sense, it’s a Bills forum, but still. For example, my guess is most posters don’t know that Mahomes has as many interceptions as Josh does. This year it seems more than ever that all of the top teams have been wildly inconsistent…a couple of them just happened to have pulled out more wins than the Bills have. Gonna be a tough game this week, no doubt, but to say the Bills have no shot is pretty disingenuous