We're overhyping the Bengals

[Success]

Great team, and they could absolutely beat us on Sunday.

 

But what's the deal?  Reading this board, we seem to have little to no chance.  If I just went by the posts here, I'd think Cincy was the top team in the league, and unstoppable.

 

The Bills have lost as many games as the Bengals.  Our losses were all close. Basically down to a play or 2.  The Bengals have been absolutely blown out - twice. Against the Browns and Titans; not exactly world beaters.

 

"Burrow's calf was hurt" seems to be the main excuse.  Kind of like JA's UCL the entire 2nd half of the 2022 season, or his shoulder much of this season.  Excuses are just that.  That team has gotten blown out - twice.

 

This is as even a match of good teams as there is in the NFL.  Let's take a break on the doom talk.  Their struggles have been very similar to ours this year.  This should be a great game.

 

 

Edited November 1, 2023 by Success

[Draconator]

1 minute ago, Success said:

Great team, and they could absolutely beat us in Sunday.

 

But what's the deal?  Reading this board, we seem to have little to no chance.  If I just went by the posts here, I'd think Cincy was the top team in the league, and unstoppable.

 

The Bills have lost as many games as the Bengals.  Our losses were all close. Basically down to a play or 2.  The Bengals have been absolutely blown out - twice. Against the Browns and Titans; not exactly world beaters.

 

"Burrow's calf was hurt" seems to be the main excuse.  Kind of like JA's UCL the entire 2nd half of the 2022 season, or his shoulder much of this season.  Excuses are just that.  That team has gotten blown out - twice.

 

This is as even a match of good teams as there is in the NFL.  Let's take a break on the doom talk.  Their struggles have been very similar to ours this year.  This should be a great game.

 

 

Now you did it

[Johnnycage46]

I think with it being AT Cincy, and the fact that they appear to have worked out their early season issues, it's going to be an uphill climb, especially with our defensive issues.  That's my thought behind their hype anyway.

[BillsFan692]

Josh Allen about to revenge for the playoff exit.

[BarleyNY]

2 minutes ago, BillsFan692 said:

Josh Allen about to revenge for the playoff exit.

LOL. Revenge for a playoff beat down is not possible in the middle of the regular season. 

[HOUSE]

Two teams

JAGS & BENGALS

Go bowling

[SCBills]

The defeatist talk from some is embarrassing, but it’s definitely a “show me” game for a lot of us. 
 

Bengals losses can be blamed on Burrow’s injury.  
 

Bills losses are blamed on… what?  Offense has been healthy and is an inconsistent mess.  Defense has injuries that, Rasual Douglas aside, will have to be worked through. 
 

We showed we couldn’t stop them for a game and two drives last year.  
 

Our offense made their DC look like an evil genius.  
 

It’s in Cinci.  
 

We’re absolutely talented enough to beat them, but we need to see a lot more from this team than they’ve been showing. 

[Richard Noggin]

The Bengals have shown each of the last two seasons that they are very dangerous, and they have proven to be an especially difficult matchup for the Bills. That's not really hype. That's just results. And now Burrow is apparently healthy, and they are clicking. It's a really tough matchup for sure. No shame in admitting as much. 

[uticaclub]

Cincis defense shows up for big games, ours doesn’t. If the Damar incident doesn’t happen we are probably getting blown out that game and the Bills players know it. Cinci always starts off slow and then gets hot this time of year. A win would be YUGE and keeps us on track for another division title, while a loss could knock us out of the playoffs. So the ramifications of this matchup are massive, this would be Cincis 4th conference loss too.

[billsfan89]

They look closer to the Bengals that ended the Bills season last year as they are on a 3 game winning streak. But I have a good feeling about the game. I think the Bills will come out strong on offense as I think they found the secret sauce with Kincaid and Shakir going strong along with the no huddle to simplify things. 
 

I also think adding Douglas gives the Bills defense a better chance against that strong WR trio. Overall I think the Bills come out strong in this one coming off the mini bye and all

[90sBills]

This could get ugly. 

[Billsfan1972]

100% agree.  Embarrassing.  But it is a built in defence for some here who refuse to point fingers at the HC and Defence.  Dorsey of course is fair game for all.😜

[Beast]

The issue is, if this was the stock market, the Bengals would be the bull market and the Bills would be the bear market.

[PatsFanNH]

25 minutes ago, Success said:

Great team, and they could absolutely beat us on Sunday.

 

But what's the deal?  Reading this board, we seem to have little to no chance.  If I just went by the posts here, I'd think Cincy was the top team in the league, and unstoppable.

 

The Bills have lost as many games as the Bengals.  Our losses were all close. Basically down to a play or 2.  The Bengals have been absolutely blown out - twice. Against the Browns and Titans; not exactly world beaters.

 

"Burrow's calf was hurt" seems to be the main excuse.  Kind of like JA's UCL the entire 2nd half of the 2022 season, or his shoulder much of this season.  Excuses are just that.  That team has gotten blown out - twice.

 

This is as even a match of good teams as there is in the NFL.  Let's take a break on the doom talk.  Their struggles have been very similar to ours this year.  This should be a great game.

 

 

I think a lot on this board are afraid to see how the Bills D holds up against an elite O. I myself am expecting a shoot out. 

[947]

We just need to hope Hailee Steinfeld doesn't find an ultrasound pic at 2am the night before the game, and we'll be all good.

[WotAGuy]

Hopefully Allen doesn’t break up with his girl Saturday night. 

[nedboy7]

30 minutes ago, Success said:

Great team, and they could absolutely beat us on Sunday.

 

But what's the deal?  Reading this board, we seem to have little to no chance.  If I just went by the posts here, I'd think Cincy was the top team in the league, and unstoppable.

 

The Bills have lost as many games as the Bengals.  Our losses were all close. Basically down to a play or 2.  The Bengals have been absolutely blown out - twice. Against the Browns and Titans; not exactly world beaters.

 

"Burrow's calf was hurt" seems to be the main excuse.  Kind of like JA's UCL the entire 2nd half of the 2022 season, or his shoulder much of this season.  Excuses are just that.  That team has gotten blown out - twice.

 

This is as even a match of good teams as there is in the NFL.  Let's take a break on the doom talk.  Their struggles have been very similar to ours this year.  This should be a great game.

 

 

 

Most Bills fans on here seem to have a complex.  It's an emotionally weak defense system. 

[K-9]

I’d like to see McD employ the same D schemes he used vs Miami. Similar offenses with QBs who like to get rid of it quick. 

[SCBills]

3 minutes ago, 90sBills said:

This could get ugly. 

This is the “embarrassing defeatist talk” I referenced. 
 

Talent wise, there is no reason that should happen.  It would be a major red flag reflection on Allen and the coaching staff. 
 

Von is still working back, Douglas will be getting acclimated, Allen healing up from a shoulder injury and Knox is out, but coming off a mini-bye, they have enough healthy talent to win this game…and they ****ed around enough already this season that the excuses have run out.  ….and they also know that. 

[CNYfan]

The narrative will change after Sunday.  

 

The Bills are good, time to man up and psyche for the Jungle.   

 

They will bungle in the jungle (JT) and change the narrative.  

[strive_for_five_guy]

14 minutes ago, 947 said:

We just need to hope Hailee Steinfeld doesn't find an ultrasound pic at 2am the night before the game, and we'll be all good.

As long as my QB isn’t “detached”, we should be golden 🎃

[Franco_92]

The Bengals are probably returning to form, but they have exactly one impressive game so far this year - the one this past Sunday. Even then, SF walked all over the field before Purdy barfed up a couple turnovers. Seattle went into Cincinnati the game before and should have beat them going away had they gotten NFL level quarterbacking in the red zone for any one of their trips there at the end

[BBFL]

Don’t think we are overhyping any team. Bengals started off the season out of sync’ and had a underwhelming Burrow who appeared injured… 

 

They now look to be hitting their stride in the offense and for the most part their defense seems to be following suit.

 

I’m not in the doom and gloom camp but this will be a tough out. Make no mistake about it. The whole team needs to show up for us to get a win. Need to be consistent throughout the game and not go into a scoring slump for a whole half like every other game. 
 

I have faith it’ll be either be a one score game or a complete blowout. 
 

 

Edited November 1, 2023 by BBFL

[ngbills]

Bengals are a tough matchup  

their last win was more impressive than ours

they have looked better the last 5

its in cin

 

that is why we are underdogs 

 

[Richard Noggin]

8 minutes ago, nedboy7 said:

 

Most Bills fans on here seem to have a complex.  It's an emotionally weak defense system. 

 

Now, now...we mustn't blame the victims. 

 

Of course, I also kind of agree. The knee-jerk fatalism is a tiresome defense mechanism. But maybe I'm allowed to victim-shame here, being a survivor myself? (I was 12 when Jim Kelly kept playing into Belichick's bendable (but unbreakable) defensive trap, and none of our mere mortals on defense could actually bring down OJ effing Anderson. Norwood's kick faded right in ACTUAL slow motion as my adolescent heart broke for real for the first time. We all know it never got any better from there.) 

 

That being said, we're mostly adults here, now, and it's just corporate sports entertainment, after all; it's been extensively re-designed and refined as a machine that transfers wealth from the working class to the ownership class (like just about EVERYthing around us). At least a (very) small percentage of athletes actually get to earn a very good living, post-college, for a couple years, and an even smaller pool of luckier and better athletes are able to extract life-changing and even generational wealth from the machine. (Some guys now can even get rich in college and could conceivably avoid the punishment of the NFL.)

 

It's okay to call out immature fan tropes, in my eyes. But I also get how one could fall into that hole.

[BuffaloBillsGospel2014]

1 hour ago, Success said:

Great team, and they could absolutely beat us on Sunday.

 

But what's the deal?  Reading this board, we seem to have little to no chance.  If I just went by the posts here, I'd think Cincy was the top team in the league, and unstoppable.

 

The Bills have lost as many games as the Bengals.  Our losses were all close. Basically down to a play or 2.  The Bengals have been absolutely blown out - twice. Against the Browns and Titans; not exactly world beaters.

 

"Burrow's calf was hurt" seems to be the main excuse.  Kind of like JA's UCL the entire 2nd half of the 2022 season, or his shoulder much of this season.  Excuses are just that.  That team has gotten blown out - twice.

 

This is as even a match of good teams as there is in the NFL.  Let's take a break on the doom talk.  Their struggles have been very similar to ours this year.  This should be a great game.

 

 

 

Most of these guys don't even know who CB Rasul Douglas is and you listen to them....Why?

[BuffaloRebound]

They bullied us and made us look soft in the 5 quarters we played them.  Hard to feel confident.  

[Buffalo03]

1 hour ago, Success said:

Great team, and they could absolutely beat us on Sunday.

 

But what's the deal?  Reading this board, we seem to have little to no chance.  If I just went by the posts here, I'd think Cincy was the top team in the league, and unstoppable.

 

The Bills have lost as many games as the Bengals.  Our losses were all close. Basically down to a play or 2.  The Bengals have been absolutely blown out - twice. Against the Browns and Titans; not exactly world beaters.

 

"Burrow's calf was hurt" seems to be the main excuse.  Kind of like JA's UCL the entire 2nd half of the 2022 season, or his shoulder much of this season.  Excuses are just that.  That team has gotten blown out - twice.

 

This is as even a match of good teams as there is in the NFL.  Let's take a break on the doom talk.  Their struggles have been very similar to ours this year.  This should be a great game.

 

 

The only reason I think it could be a long night against the Bengals is because of their WRs against our corners. Trying to think of Dane and Benford stopping Chase, Higgins and Boyd is scary. I do think Rasul Douglas plays but not a whole lot. I fear the defense can get shredded. I have Jamarr Chase and Tyler Boyd on the same team in fantasy and I'm starting both. I hope I'm wrong but I just think the game could get bad for the Bills defensively very quickly 

[Richard Noggin]

5 minutes ago, BuffaloRebound said:

They bullied us and made us look soft in the 5 quarters we played them.  Hard to feel confident.  

 

Completely agree with the first half here. The Bengals were like a reckoning for the Bills last year. They were unavoidable. Inevitable. 

 

But, there is an entire SPECTRUM of fan emotions/expectations that exist in the space between "confident" and that dependable, fallback brand of smug fatalism that a certain percentage of Bills fans use to protect themselves from getting hurt again. 

[Success]

7 minutes ago, Buffalo03 said:

The only reason I think it could be a long night against the Bengals is because of their WRs against our corners. Trying to think of Dane and Benford stopping Chase, Higgins and Boyd is scary. I do think Rasul Douglas plays but not a whole lot. I fear the defense can get shredded. I have Jamarr Chase and Tyler Boyd on the same team in fantasy and I'm starting both. I hope I'm wrong but I just think the game could get bad for the Bills defensively very quickly 

 

I'd agree that this is a concern.  Hopefully, the line will get to Burrow more often than not & keep that in check.

 

[EasternOHBillsFan]

1 hour ago, Success said:

Great team, and they could absolutely beat us on Sunday.

 

But what's the deal?  Reading this board, we seem to have little to no chance.  If I just went by the posts here, I'd think Cincy was the top team in the league, and unstoppable.

 

This is as even a match of good teams as there is in the NFL.  Let's take a break on the doom talk.  Their struggles have been very similar to ours this year.  This should be a great game.

 

The head to head matchups we have had tell us a lot about what to expect... but you are a little bit right because "any given Sunday" happens.

 

I am curious to know exactly why you think we can beat them considering that we essentially have a lot of the same pieces we did in January with the same OC and the same HC. How exactly are we to score enough points to beat them exactly? I'm all ears/eyes!

[newcam2012]

54 minutes ago, Richard Noggin said:

 

Now, now...we mustn't blame the victims. 

 

Of course, I also kind of agree. The knee-jerk fatalism is a tiresome defense mechanism. But maybe I'm allowed to victim-shame here, being a survivor myself? (I was 12 when Jim Kelly kept playing into Belichick's bendable (but unbreakable) defensive trap, and none of our mere mortals on defense could actually bring down OJ effing Anderson. Norwood's kick faded right in ACTUAL slow motion as my adolescent heart broke for real for the first time. We all know it never got any better from there.) 

 

That being said, we're mostly adults here, now, and it's just corporate sports entertainment, after all; it's been extensively re-designed and refined as a machine that transfers wealth from the working class to the ownership class (like just about EVERYthing around us). At least a (very) small percentage of athletes actually get to earn a very good living, post-college, for a couple years, and an even smaller pool of luckier and better athletes are able to extract life-changing and even generational wealth from the machine. (Some guys now can even get rich in college and could conceivably avoid the punishment of the NFL.)

 

It's okay to call out immature fan tropes, in my eyes. But I also get how one could fall into that hole.

Can one "fall in a hole" and be overly optimistic? 

[BillsFan692]

1 hour ago, BarleyNY said:

LOL. Revenge for a playoff beat down is not possible in the middle of the regular season. 

You want some cheese with that whine?

[newcam2012]

1 hour ago, Success said:

Great team, and they could absolutely beat us on Sunday.

 

But what's the deal?  Reading this board, we seem to have little to no chance.  If I just went by the posts here, I'd think Cincy was the top team in the league, and unstoppable.

 

The Bills have lost as many games as the Bengals.  Our losses were all close. Basically down to a play or 2.  The Bengals have been absolutely blown out - twice. Against the Browns and Titans; not exactly world beaters.

 

"Burrow's calf was hurt" seems to be the main excuse.  Kind of like JA's UCL the entire 2nd half of the 2022 season, or his shoulder much of this season.  Excuses are just that.  That team has gotten blown out - twice.

 

This is as even a match of good teams as there is in the NFL.  Let's take a break on the doom talk.  Their struggles have been very similar to ours this year.  This should be a great game.

 

 

I can appreciate your train of thought here. However, I read your post twice just to make sure I'm interpreting it correctly. 

 

It's pretty striking how you just kind of gloss over the Burrow injury as just another injury. 

[78thealltimegreat]

Here’s the deal with the Bengals they got the 49ers at the perfect time on a short week and Brock Purdy continued his really bad play recently.
The Bengals are a solid football team that is very good against the pass the way you beat them is to hammer on their dline with your oline see the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens who seem to own them. 
The Bills can definitely win this game. They need to run the ball and get TDs not field goals in the red zone. 
On D Ed Oliver needs a big game and the team has to tackle well.

This is the ultimate swing game Bills win they have an excellent shot at being 8-3 going to Philly…the lose and it’s back to square where every game is a grind. 

Edited November 1, 2023 by 78thealltimegreat

[Success]

8 minutes ago, EasternOHBillsFan said:

 

The head to head matchups we have had tell us a lot about what to expect... but you are a little bit right because "any given Sunday" happens.

 

I am curious to know exactly why you think we can beat them considering that we essentially have a lot of the same pieces we did in January with the same OC and the same HC. How exactly are we to score enough points to beat them exactly? I'm all ears/eyes!

 

I don't really see us as the same team.  Obviously, the injuries to Milano, Jones & White hurt right now.  But, we're still a more physical team on both sides of the ball.  

 

On offense, the additions of McGovern & Torrence have made a real difference in that unit.  I think the pass protection last week was about the best I've seen during the JA era.  We're a better running team w/ Cook shining in year 2.  And Kincaid is really coming on. He's a match-up problem for Cincy.

 

On defense, you have Epenesa & Oliver taking huge steps this year.  Groot was already very good & is coming into his own.  Floyd was a great addition.  Bernard is playing at a high level.  A healthy Poyer & Hyde (which we didn't have in January) really rounds it out.

 

Cincy has had a pretty down year so far.  The Niners was by far their best game.  I'd compare it to our game against Miami.  Because you are on top of your game one week doesn't mean it will carry over.

 

Like I said in the OP - of course Cincy can win. But it's an even match-up, imo.

 

4 minutes ago, newcam2012 said:

I can appreciate your train of thought here. However, I read your post twice just to make sure I'm interpreting it correctly. 

 

It's pretty striking how you just kind of gloss over the Burrow injury as just another injury. 

 

Oh, it was a big injury, for sure.  And it's obvious it hurt that team.

 

But bigger than Allen's UCL last year?  I don't see too much consideration being given to that in the discussion here.  There is a lot of "they crushed us in the playoffs & will probably do it again."  I don't see any 'they crushed us because of JA's UCL.'

 

[VW82]

This is suh a jinx thread. What the heck OPer??

 

The reason why we should be scared of the Bengals is because their Oline has a history of manhandling our Dline, and now we're missing our toughest DT and best linebacker. We probably aren't going to win if we can't stop them and lose TOP. 

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

They’re eerily similar to us imo but it’s up to peoples interpretation how much stock should be put in that sf game and cincy starting slow could be a trend.  
 

to me this is a new year, they let one good and one great safety walk which has knocked their defense down a peg.  Can’t really run the football too well either and they let their TE that caused us some problems walk without a viable replacement.  Idk that we win but there’s a lot of differences from the last meeting 

43 minutes ago, BuffaloRebound said:

They bullied us and made us look soft in the 5 quarters we played them.  Hard to feel confident.  

5 quarters is a stretch…looked like we were in for a shootout in that regular season matchup.  We ended up kicking a fg on a 4th and short that obviously we would’ve gone for if we knew the game was ending very early.  
 

our oline was mauling them on our one drive in the regular season that’s why the playoff result threw me so badly lol either way we have objectively upgraded in the trenches compared to that playoff roster we were running with 

[Bills aPHILLYate]

I expect a competitive game but I believe the Bills make a statement with this one as well.

 

I think Bernard's playmaking abilities will be huge and Epenesa will have one of those games where he disrupts the quick passes.

 

I think Josh continues to spread the ball to various receivers and runs on instinct 

 

I can only hope that Dorsey utilizes Cook and gets him about 20 touches

 

All in all I think the defense will be the ones who keep the momentum on our side and the offense will compliment that

 

30-21 Bills

[newcam2012]

12 minutes ago, Success said:

 

I don't really see us as the same team.  Obviously, the injuries to Milano, Jones & White hurt right now.  But, we're still a more physical team on both sides of the ball.  

 

On offense, the additions of McGovern & Torrence have made a real difference in that unit.  I think the pass protection last week was about the best I've seen during the JA era.  We're a better running team w/ Cook shining in year 2.  And Kincaid is really coming on. He's a match-up problem for Cincy.

 

On defense, you have Epenesa & Oliver taking huge steps this year.  Groot was already very good & is coming into his own.  Floyd was a great addition.  Bernard is playing at a high level.  A healthy Poyer & Hyde (which we didn't have in January) really rounds it out.

 

Cincy has had a pretty down year so far.  The Niners was by far their best game.  I'd compare it to our game against Miami.  Because you are on top of your game one week doesn't mean it will carry over.

 

Like I said in the OP - of course Cincy can win. But it's an even match-up, imo.

 

 

Oh, it was a big injury, for sure.  And it's obvious it hurt that team.

 

But bigger than Allen's UCL last year?  I don't see too much consideration being given to that in the discussion here.  There is a lot of "they crushed us in the playoffs & will probably do it again."  I don't see any 'they crushed us because of JA's UCL.'

 

I think you don't see that because Josh doesn't play defense. No need to elaborate here because we all saw the game.