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Week 5 Bills @ Bengals

MrCincinnati

By MrCincinnati
in Cincinnati Bengals

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MrCincinnati

MrCincinnati

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So the Bengals finally won a game. Now they go back home and host a surprisingly good Bills team this year that sits at 3-1

HISTORY LESSON

The Bengals are 9-7 against the Bills when playing in Cincinnati
Last matchup – Last season Bills won 16-12 in Cincinnati
Last Bengals win – 2015 season Bengals won 34-21 in Buffalo
Last Bengals win in Cincinnati – 2011 season Bengals win 23-20

GAMEDAY INFO

Game time will be this Sunday 1 PM ET on CBS. Here’s the TV Map:
http://506sports.com/nfl.php?yr=2017&wk=5

5 KEYS TO VICTORY

5. Pass Rush – This team has finally figured out how to get to the QB this year, so far having 12 sacks on the year. While they didn’t do much against the Browns here, they are on pace to have 48 sacks on the year which is still very good. The big reason is thanks to Geno Atkins and Carlos Dunlap, as well as rookies Carl Lawson and Jordan Willis. Regardless of how this team continues there year, the future looks very good for the DL considering they’ve had issues in the past not getting to the QB.

4. Stay Hot – For two weeks in a row now, the Bengals have scored 21 points in back to back games in the first half. The questions about how they play in the 2nd half are still something that needs to be resolved, but there’s no denying this team has exceed expectations in the first half of games now. As I said before in the last point above, the Bills defense is very good, but there offense still has questions. Jumping out to a very early lead on this team and not let them hang around could be a difference maker.

3. No More Injuries – This team still is having injury problems, but mostly with the offense. Eifert and Ross are still out for who knows how long, and TJ Johnson and Ryan Hewitt also got injured against the Browns. The Defense has had some injuries too, but they appear to have good depth in almost all of their positions there at the moment, so it’s not a big concern there. The entire offense on the other hand though doesn’t have very good depth, aside from the RB’s and TE’s. Ironically last when they played the Bills, it was that moment AJ Green and Giovani Bernard suffered season ending injuries, so I’m just throwing that out there.

2. Neutralize Charles Clay – While most people will say LeSean McCoy is the biggest thing to look out for on the Bills offense, I’m looking at the Bills top passing weapon for Tyrod Taylor here. While McCoy leads the team in catches, Charles Clay leads the team in receiving yards. The Bengals don’t usually have a good track record when matching up against the TE’s, so I’m looking at Burfict and Vigil to do their job here and find ways to cover him well enough. Tyrod Taylor isn’t one of those guys who will turn the ball over a lot, but he also won’t throw for a lot of yards, so he has to rely on the guys catching it for him.

1. The Obvious Problem – Every week so far I’ve mentioned OL play in my keys to victory, and I won’t stop until proven otherwise. Last game against the Browns, I did see a little improvement in another player and it was Andre Smith. While he still hasn’t played as many snaps as some of the other guys, it’s clear he’s a massive upgrade over Fisher and Ogbuehi. But with TJ Johnson now injured too, you have to wonder if he will slide in at RG for the time being if Johnson’s injury is serious. Smith hopefully will stay in the lineup, but because he’s a free agent, perhaps they don’t see him around next year. Right now Boling and Smith are emerging, but everyone else still looks like trash.

PREDICTION

While it was nice to see the Bengals finally win a game, it’s time for this team to be brought back down to earth. A month ago all of us looked at this game as most likely a win because the Bills looked like they were in rebuilding mode. All of a sudden now though, they are coming off back to back big wins so far this year against the Broncos and Falcons, and now appear to have another easy win against the 1-3 Bengals. I’m thinking this will be another entertaining game, but reality is about to come back for the Bengals. There’s a small chance I may change my mind on this pick, but don’t count on it.

Edit- Ok, I changed my mind. This game sort of reminds me of the 2011 game when the Bills were entering Cincinnati at 3-0 and the Bengals were 1-2. People were sleeping on the Bills for the past 2 weeks now, so I'm going with the same score as I had before, but changing the winner.

Bills 17 Bengals 20

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theJ

theJ

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3 hours ago, MrCincinnati said:

1. The Obvious Problem – Every week so far I’ve mentioned OL play in my keys to victory, and I won’t stop until proven otherwise. Last game against the Browns, I did see a little improvement in another player and it was Andre Smith. While he still hasn’t played as many snaps as some of the other guys, it’s clear he’s a massive upgrade over Fisher and Ogbuehi. But with TJ Johnson now injured too, you have to wonder if he will slide in at RG for the time being if Johnson’s injury is serious. Smith hopefully will stay in the lineup, but because he’s a free agent, perhaps they don’t see him around next year. Right now Boling and Smith are emerging, but everyone else still looks like trash.

 

Sounds like Trey Hopkins may be back this week.  If not, i bet it will be Westerman or Redman to start at RG, and Smith starts at LT again.

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theJ

theJ

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I never thought i'd be posting about OL players so much.  They're not that exciting.  I like talking about WR's and QB's and RB's.

As for the Bills - I think they're going to hit a wall at some point.  This is an obvious let down game, 1 week after beating the Falcons on the road.  Another road game.  I think the Bengals get this one.  Something like 24-17.

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Johnny Nix

Johnny Nix

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Idk. the Bills are one of the those teams, on paper it looks like a win, until the game starts. I think the offense is trending upward but we haven't exactly played a great defense vs GB and CLE. I think we can win, but wouldn't be shocked at all by a loss. 

CIN- 16

BUF- 10

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theJ

theJ

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8 hours ago, johndeere1707 said:

I think we can win, but wouldn't be shocked at all by a loss. 

I wouldn't be shocked either.  But i still think this is a trap/letdown game for the Bills, who just won a tough game on the road against a quality opponent.  If they were "up" for that game, i think they're "down" for this game.

They've struggled to pass the ball, so just like last week, if the Bengals can get the lead first, they'll stand a much better chance of winning.  Have to eliminate those back breaking plays on the defense though.  They can't afford to let Tyrod get 100 rushing yards on them or something stupid like that.

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