The Buffalo Bills traveled to Cincinnati Sunday night for a highly anticipated rematch of last year’s week 17 contest and left with a disappointing loss, 24-18.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen completed 26 of his 38 passing attempts for 258 yards and a touchdown while also recording one interception.
Further, the dual-threat quarterback also added 44 yards and a touchdown on eight carries in the ground game.
The rest of the Bills’ rushing attack was atrocious, as the unit recorded just 24 yards outside of Josh Allen for just 68 yards on the evening.
The defense didn’t have their best game either, allowing Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow to complete 31 of his 44 passes for 348 yards and two touchdowns against zero interceptions.
Despite the high volume of passing yards allowed, the Bills defense did hold Cincinnati to just
54 yards on the ground in the loss.
Further, the unit was also able to hold the Bengals offense to just three points in the second half, but the team still fell short of a come from behind victory late.
Recap
The Bengals started the game with the ball, and would end up taking it all the way down the field to score a touchdown on their opening possession.
However, the Bills offense would quickly respond with a touchdown of their own, tying the game at seven. Cincinnati would also be able to respond, scoring their second touchdown in as many drives to retake the lead 14-7.
After the offensive explosion on the first few possessions, both teams offenses would start to lose traction, the two units traded punts.
This led to the end of the first quarter, as Cincinnati still held a 14-7 lead.
Buffalo would get the ball back after a Bengals punt, and quarterback Josh Allen would throw an interception that gave Cincinnati great field position.
However, the Bengals offense couldn’t capitalize, due to crippling penalties, and the Bengals would again punt the ball.
Late in the quarter, the Bengals would get the ball back. With less than two minutes to go in the half, the Bengals would have a 3rd down and seven.
On the play Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow found tight end Drew Sample underneath, who took the pass all the way to the endzone for a 22-yard touchdown, giving them a 21-7 lead late in the second quarter.
Buffalo would get the ball with one last chance to drive the field, but costly penalties would keep the Bills off the scoreboard, and Buffalo went into the half trailing 21-7.
The Bills offense would start the second half with a long drive that took them deep into Bengals territory, but after being stopped on a third and long, the Bills settled for a field goal to make the score 21-10.
Cincinnati would receive their first chance of the half, and after an impressive play by wide receiver Tee Higgins, the drive would stall out, forcing them to punt yet again.
After receiving bad field position on their next drive, Buffalo would be forced to punt the ball back to the Bengals, giving Cincinnati a chance to increase their lead.
The Bengals offense would start the drive off well, getting across midfield, before finding themselves on a fourth down and five.
Rather than kicking the field goal, head coach Zac Taylor opted to go for it, and after failing to convert, gave Buffalo the ball back with good field position.
However, the great field position wouldn’t matter as Bills tight end Dalton Kincaid would fumble the ball inside the Bengals 20-yard line, and Cincinnati would recover possession.
This allowed the Bengals to drive down the field, and extend their lead with a 20-yard field goal from Evan McPherson to give them a 24-10 lead with less than nine minutes to go.
Despite this, the Bills offense would take the ball down the field on a long drive that was capped off with a Stefon Diggs touchdown reception, and two-point conversion to put the Bills within six.
However, the Bills offense wouldn’t be able to get the ball back again, as the Bengals running back Joe Mixon would ice the game with a couple of runs, allowing the Cincinnati to hold on and win 24-18.
Takeaways
The Bills offense was unable to get anything going after their first drive, and scored just seven points in the opening half of this one.
The unit started to play better in the second half, but penalties and turnovers would cost the Bills valuable chances to make a comeback.
The defense wasn’t great in half number one either, allowing 21 points through the opening two quarters.
Despite this, the team was able to make some big plays in the second half, holding the Bengals offense to just three points in the final two quarters.
In the end, the Bills fell short, and now fall to 5-4 on the season. This is the teams worst start since 2018, which is also the last time the team missed the playoffs.
They now look to get back on track with a showdown on Monday night against the 3-5 Denver Broncos.
