Thoughts on Bengals Game.

[newcam2012]

Prayers go out to Hamlin. That's obviously the most important priority! Waiting in agony for positive results. 

 

However, maybe we can just talk a little football just to escape reality and cope with the sad occurrence of events. With no disrespect, I'd like to address the 5 min and change of the game. Please no disrespect is intended.

 

Bengals elected to get the ball and moved through the Bills D like Swiss cheese. They made an early statement that their offense had no fear. They immediately went after Tre. Tre is not the Tre of old. No way can he play Chase one on one. Very surprised that the Bills immediately blitzed Burrow. Burrow has killed the blitz all year. Not sure what Fraizer was thinking. After that, it was Burrow playing catch with his receivers. Early on it appeared that the Bills secondary and zone scheme was over matched by their receivers.

 

Their second drive which ended in the tragic event started out similarly to the first. At this point, it looked as though the Bills couldn't stop their potent offense.  Would the Bills be able to make adjustments and tighten up? They have done this in the past.

 

The Bills offensively on their first and only drive looked good. The were well balanced mixing in the run and pass. It was quite different than the explosive fast striking offense of the Bengals. The Bills methodically moved the ball down the field. It was clear the Bengals were going to pressure Allen. It looked like the Bills O was working very hard for every yard and first down. Tough way to score and win. I felt like the Bills had to be precise on every play with little room for error. Turned out to be true with the Beasley missed pass and catch. 

 

My early thoughts of the game were that this was going to be a very difficult game for the Bills to win. Bengals offense was simply too good and too explosive for the Bills. Meanwhile, the Bills offense was had little room for error. Allen was going to be pressured throughout the game. I still felt like the Bills offense would score plenty. 

 

We will never know how they game would have ended. Just pure speculation on my part. Early on the Bengals were the much better team. Get well #3. 

 

 

Edited January 3, 2023 by newcam2012

[Robert Paulson]

Just now, newcam2012 said:

Prayers go out to Hamlin. That's obviously the most important priority! Waiting in agony for positive results. 

 

However, maybe we can just talk a little football just to escape reality and cope with the sad occurrence of events. With no disrespect, I'd like to address the 5 min and change of the game. Please no disrespect is intended.

 

Bengals elected to get the ball and moved through the Bills D like Swiss cheese. They made an early statement that their offense had no fear is was superior to the Bills D. They immediately went after Tre. Tre is not the Tre of old. No way can he play Chase one on one. Very surprised that the Bills immediately blitzed Burrow. Burrow has killed the blitz all year. Not sure what Fraizer was thinking. After that, it was Burrow playing catch with his receivers. Early on it appeared that the Bills secondary and zone was over matched by their receivers. Their second drive which ended in the tragic event started out similarly to the first. At this point it looked as though the Bills couldn't stop their potent offense. Question is would they be able to make adjustments and tighten up? They have done this in the past.

 

The Bills offensively on their first and only drive looked good. The were well balanced mixing in the run and pass. It was quite different than the explosive fast striking offense of the Bengals. The Bills methodically moved the ball down the field. It was clear the Bengals were going to pressure Allen. It looked like the Bills O was working very hard for every yard and first down. Tough way to score because I felt like the Bills had to be precise on every play with little room for error. Turned out to be true with the Beasley missed pass and catch. 

 

My early thoughts of the game were that this was going to be a very difficult game for the Bills to win. Bengals offense was simply too good and too explosive for the Bills. Meanwhile, the Bills offense was had little room for error. Allen was going to be pressured throughout the game. I still felt like the Bills offense would score plenty. 

 

We will never know how they game would have ended. Just pure speculation on my part. Early on the Bengals were the much better team. 

 

 

i didn't understand why they were blitzing either.  Burrow is the least efficient against a 3 man rush and fully zone- why did we do the opposite?

 

[NewEra]

2 minutes ago, newcam2012 said:

Prayers go out to Hamlin. That's obviously the most important priority! Waiting in agony for positive results. 

 

However, maybe we can just talk a little football just to escape reality and cope with the sad occurrence of events. With no disrespect, I'd like to address the 5 min and change of the game. Please no disrespect is intended.

 

Bengals elected to get the ball and moved through the Bills D like Swiss cheese. They made an early statement that their offense had no fear is was superior to the Bills D. They immediately went after Tre. Tre is not the Tre of old. No way can he play Chase one on one. Very surprised that the Bills immediately blitzed Burrow. Burrow has killed the blitz all year. Not sure what Fraizer was thinking. After that, it was Burrow playing catch with his receivers. Early on it appeared that the Bills secondary and zone was over matched by their receivers. Their second drive which ended in the tragic event started out similarly to the first. At this point it looked as though the Bills couldn't stop their potent offense. Question is would they be able to make adjustments and tighten up? They have done this in the past.

 

The Bills offensively on their first and only drive looked good. The were well balanced mixing in the run and pass. It was quite different than the explosive fast striking offense of the Bengals. The Bills methodically moved the ball down the field. It was clear the Bengals were going to pressure Allen. It looked like the Bills O was working very hard for every yard and first down. Tough way to score because I felt like the Bills had to be precise on every play with little room for error. Turned out to be true with the Beasley missed pass and catch. 

 

My early thoughts of the game were that this was going to be a very difficult game for the Bills to win. Bengals offense was simply too good and too explosive for the Bills. Meanwhile, the Bills offense was had little room for error. Allen was going to be pressured throughout the game. I still felt like the Bills offense would score plenty. 

 

We will never know how they game would have ended. Just pure speculation on my part. Early on the Bengals were the much better team. 

 

 

The bengals had 8 plays on offense…..

 

an nfl game has multiple twists and turns.  Game plans change.  Coaches adjust.  We can’t tell much of anything based on what we saw.  

[The 9 Isles]

Meh. The Bills always give up one or two of those hot knife through butter drives but usually sure right up. 
 

I think the Bills first drive was indicative of exactly what McDermott wants on offense, a balanced grind you down, frustrate the opposing linemen and use up the clock to keep the defense fresh. 
 

I think it would have been a great game considering to two teams abilities. 
 

 

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

8 minutes ago, newcam2012 said:

Prayers go out to Hamlin. That's obviously the most important priority! Waiting in agony for positive results. 

 

However, maybe we can just talk a little football just to escape reality and cope with the sad occurrence of events. With no disrespect, I'd like to address the 5 min and change of the game. Please no disrespect is intended.

 

Bengals elected to get the ball and moved through the Bills D like Swiss cheese. They made an early statement that their offense had no fear is was superior to the Bills D. They immediately went after Tre. Tre is not the Tre of old. No way can he play Chase one on one. Very surprised that the Bills immediately blitzed Burrow. Burrow has killed the blitz all year. Not sure what Fraizer was thinking. After that, it was Burrow playing catch with his receivers. Early on it appeared that the Bills secondary and zone was over matched by their receivers. Their second drive which ended in the tragic event started out similarly to the first. At this point it looked as though the Bills couldn't stop their potent offense. Question is would they be able to make adjustments and tighten up? They have done this in the past.

 

The Bills offensively on their first and only drive looked good. The were well balanced mixing in the run and pass. It was quite different than the explosive fast striking offense of the Bengals. The Bills methodically moved the ball down the field. It was clear the Bengals were going to pressure Allen. It looked like the Bills O was working very hard for every yard and first down. Tough way to score because I felt like the Bills had to be precise on every play with little room for error. Turned out to be true with the Beasley missed pass and catch. 

 

My early thoughts of the game were that this was going to be a very difficult game for the Bills to win. Bengals offense was simply too good and too explosive for the Bills. Meanwhile, the Bills offense was had little room for error. Allen was going to be pressured throughout the game. I still felt like the Bills offense would score plenty. 

 

We will never know how they game would have ended. Just pure speculation on my part. Early on the Bengals were the much better team. 

 

 

What makes you say Allen was going to be pressured?  The bills offensive line was absolutely obliterating the bengals in the running and passing game. That was certainly headed for a shootout and I would’ve had my money on buffalo honestly…bills are pretty much unstoppable when they can run the football and I’d take the bills getting one or two stops over the bengals doing so seeing as Burrow is immobile and their RT was horrendous and getting away with obvious holds the whole first drive 

 

If the bills had the first possession and punted, maybe you get into the discussions about them potentially being too far behind to come back with the defense struggling to get stops.  But as it stood I see no reason to assume the bills wouldn’t have marched right down the field and matched a bengals td 

Edited January 3, 2023 by Generic_Bills_Fan

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

6 minutes ago, Robert Paulson said:

i didn't understand why they were blitzing either.  Burrow is the least efficient against a 3 man rush and fully zone- why did we do the opposite?

 

Bengals had a huge weak link on the offensive line that the bills wanted to test…nfl seemed to decide this was a ‘let them play’ game though and the bengals oline was holding badly on every play. Not sure if they would’ve cracked down on it as the game went on but it was very noticeable 

Edited January 3, 2023 by Generic_Bills_Fan

[NoSaint]

3 minutes ago, NewEra said:

The bengals had 8 plays on offense…..

 

an nfl game has multiple twists and turns.  Game plans change.  Coaches adjust.  We can’t tell much of anything based on what we saw.  

yea, a scripted first drive only means so much. It was two big teams in a heavyweight fight- looking at the first punch from each means little on who would be standing hours later 

[Greg S]

7 minutes ago, newcam2012 said:

Prayers go out to Hamlin. That's obviously the most important priority! Waiting in agony for positive results. 

 

However, maybe we can just talk a little football just to escape reality and cope with the sad occurrence of events. With no disrespect, I'd like to address the 5 min and change of the game. Please no disrespect is intended.

 

Bengals elected to get the ball and moved through the Bills D like Swiss cheese. They made an early statement that their offense had no fear. They immediately went after Tre. Tre is not the Tre of old. No way can he play Chase one on one. Very surprised that the Bills immediately blitzed Burrow. Burrow has killed the blitz all year. Not sure what Fraizer was thinking. After that, it was Burrow playing catch with his receivers. Early on it appeared that the Bills secondary and zone scheme was over matched by their receivers.

 

Their second drive which ended in the tragic event started out similarly to the first. At this point, it looked as though the Bills couldn't stop their potent offense.  Would the Bills be able to make adjustments and tighten up? They have done this in the past.

 

The Bills offensively on their first and only drive looked good. The were well balanced mixing in the run and pass. It was quite different than the explosive fast striking offense of the Bengals. The Bills methodically moved the ball down the field. It was clear the Bengals were going to pressure Allen. It looked like the Bills O was working very hard for every yard and first down. Tough way to score and win. I felt like the Bills had to be precise on every play with little room for error. Turned out to be true with the Beasley missed pass and catch. 

 

My early thoughts of the game were that this was going to be a very difficult game for the Bills to win. Bengals offense was simply too good and too explosive for the Bills. Meanwhile, the Bills offense was had little room for error. Allen was going to be pressured throughout the game. I still felt like the Bills offense would score plenty. 

 

We will never know how they game would have ended. Just pure speculation on my part. Early on the Bengals were the much better team. Get well #3. 

 

 

 

Buffalo was moving the ball as well. I think we were headed towards a shootout. The Bengals also dominated the Pats early on, but NE adjusted and almost won the game. I think the Bills would have adjusted as well. Don't know if they would have won but they would stopped the Bengals enough to give Josh and co the chance to get the lead.

[Royale with Cheese]

12 minutes ago, newcam2012 said:

Prayers go out to Hamlin. That's obviously the most important priority! Waiting in agony for positive results. 

 

However, maybe we can just talk a little football just to escape reality and cope with the sad occurrence of events. With no disrespect, I'd like to address the 5 min and change of the game. Please no disrespect is intended.

 

Bengals elected to get the ball and moved through the Bills D like Swiss cheese. They made an early statement that their offense had no fear. They immediately went after Tre. Tre is not the Tre of old. No way can he play Chase one on one. Very surprised that the Bills immediately blitzed Burrow. Burrow has killed the blitz all year. Not sure what Fraizer was thinking. After that, it was Burrow playing catch with his receivers. Early on it appeared that the Bills secondary and zone scheme was over matched by their receivers.

 

Their second drive which ended in the tragic event started out similarly to the first. At this point, it looked as though the Bills couldn't stop their potent offense.  Would the Bills be able to make adjustments and tighten up? They have done this in the past.

 

The Bills offensively on their first and only drive looked good. The were well balanced mixing in the run and pass. It was quite different than the explosive fast striking offense of the Bengals. The Bills methodically moved the ball down the field. It was clear the Bengals were going to pressure Allen. It looked like the Bills O was working very hard for every yard and first down. Tough way to score and win. I felt like the Bills had to be precise on every play with little room for error. Turned out to be true with the Beasley missed pass and catch. 

 

My early thoughts of the game were that this was going to be a very difficult game for the Bills to win. Bengals offense was simply too good and too explosive for the Bills. Meanwhile, the Bills offense was had little room for error. Allen was going to be pressured throughout the game. I still felt like the Bills offense would score plenty. 

 

We will never know how they game would have ended. Just pure speculation on my part. Early on the Bengals were the much better team. Get well #3. 

 

 

 

Yep.  Last week when the Bengals started off hot against the Pats, they continued it all game long and I think beat them by 30?  Is that right?

That game shows you right there that once the Bengals start off well, they don't slow down.  

[Augie]

8 minutes ago, NewEra said:

The bengals had 8 plays on offense…..

 

an nfl game has multiple twists and turns.  Game plans change.  Coaches adjust.  We can’t tell much of anything based on what we saw.  

 

It would almost feel odd if the opponent did NOT score on the first drive. We adjust and get it together eventually in almost every game. We can’t take anything significant from what we saw last night. 

[Warriorspikes51]

1 minute ago, Royale with Cheese said:

 

Yep.  Last week when the Bengals started off hot against the Pats, they continued it all game long and I think beat them by 30?  Is that right?

That game shows you right there that once the Bengals start off well, they don't slow down.  

Uh no. The Patriots were a fumble at the Cincy 10 away from winning the game late 

[Royale with Cheese]

1 minute ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

Uh no. The Patriots were a fumble at the Cincy 10 away from winning the game late 

 

I was being sarcastic.

[bobobonators]

17 minutes ago, newcam2012 said:

Prayers go out to Hamlin. That's obviously the most important priority! Waiting in agony for positive results. 

 

However, maybe we can just talk a little football just to escape reality and cope with the sad occurrence of events. With no disrespect, I'd like to address the 5 min and change of the game. Please no disrespect is intended.

 

Bengals elected to get the ball and moved through the Bills D like Swiss cheese. They made an early statement that their offense had no fear. They immediately went after Tre. Tre is not the Tre of old. No way can he play Chase one on one. Very surprised that the Bills immediately blitzed Burrow. Burrow has killed the blitz all year. Not sure what Fraizer was thinking. After that, it was Burrow playing catch with his receivers. Early on it appeared that the Bills secondary and zone scheme was over matched by their receivers.

 

Their second drive which ended in the tragic event started out similarly to the first. At this point, it looked as though the Bills couldn't stop their potent offense.  Would the Bills be able to make adjustments and tighten up? They have done this in the past.

 

The Bills offensively on their first and only drive looked good. The were well balanced mixing in the run and pass. It was quite different than the explosive fast striking offense of the Bengals. The Bills methodically moved the ball down the field. It was clear the Bengals were going to pressure Allen. It looked like the Bills O was working very hard for every yard and first down. Tough way to score and win. I felt like the Bills had to be precise on every play with little room for error. Turned out to be true with the Beasley missed pass and catch. 

 

My early thoughts of the game were that this was going to be a very difficult game for the Bills to win. Bengals offense was simply too good and too explosive for the Bills. Meanwhile, the Bills offense was had little room for error. Allen was going to be pressured throughout the game. I still felt like the Bills offense would score plenty. 

 

We will never know how they game would have ended. Just pure speculation on my part. Early on the Bengals were the much better team. Get well #3. 

 

 

Allen had plenty of time in the pocket and we were moving the ball easily on them. The Bengals got the ball first. Our defense most always struggles off the bat and settles in. Cook was gaining CHUNKS on the ground. You have no idea how this game would’ve ended. Could’ve easily been 38-35 anyone. 
 

 

[SCBills]

Bills Defense has a penchant to start games slow and make even bad offenses look like the greatest show on turf for the first 1-2 drives before they settle in and start playing solid football.

 

Bills Offense also sliced through the Bengals Defense before a miscue/blown play on 2nd down in the red zone and then a timing hiccup between Allen & Beasley, who are probably still working out the kinks, forced us to settle for 3 instead of tying it up at 7.

 

Bills Defense looked equally unprepared/outschemed on the Bengals second drive before Hamlin went down on the field.  

 

Not a ton to take away from the game, aside from our Defense looked poised to give up two easy drives to the Bengals to start the game just like they've done far too many times this season. 

 

-----

 

If we see them again, you can't put Tre on an island against Chase.  Chase is too big, too fast and Burrow is completely comfortable throwing jump balls out there.  If we go one on one with Tre, it has to be on Higgins.. then bracket Chase.  

 

Burrow will take the underneath stuff alllllll day.   He will kill you death by a thousand paper cuts.  Not sure "bend, don't break" is the move against a QB with 3 star playmakers at WR and a good TE.  May have to take risks and play tighter coverage to force him to hold onto the ball and if he hits you deep a few times, so be it.  

 

We never got to see the Defenses adjustments that typically come after the first few drives, but we saw enough to know that ... once again... the game plan to start was a mess.  A far too common issue... can't be "feeling out" teams every week and putting yourself in a hole constantly. 

[Straight Hucklebuck]

Bills stupidly went man on the first play (maybe tried a corner blitz) and we all heard the same thing in the lead up to this game - the second you go man against Chase or Higgins, Burrow goes deep.

 

First play I knew exactly what was going to happen as soon as the Bills went into formation, no safety shaded over the top.
 

We had another play where the defense looked disheveled, Milano ended up having to cover a WR in the slot, motioning there late.

 

Clearly the Bengals plan was to find #27 and go there.

 

We had the Hamlin play where he moved towards the line and Hurst ran right past him. 

Bottom Line: Defensively the Bills don’t have to live like this with Tre White. Leslie Frazier said it in his press conferences, Tre won’t be the same this year. But the Bills making Rhodes inactive left them thin at CB and I don’t understand their decisions with him. Benford is coming back as well.

 

I question whether this Coaching staff will actually take Tre off the field in spots, because he’s there on reputation now. The Bills don’t pivot, they’ll just keep putting him out there, and Burrow will get lauded for the Boyd TD, another where Tre gets smoked the entire route.

 

 

 

Offensively, Josh was playing without a sleeve, so I don’t want to hear anything else about his elbow. Buck mentioned it again. 

 

All we heard about was DJ Reader wrecking things and that didn’t happen. Cook was ripping into the second level, Allen on a couple of occasions was tripped up just before getting big yards as well. 
 

Bengals fans talked trash about Logan Wilson and he got torched across the middle by Diggs. 

 

The second down play call at the goal line, just watching it once, I didn’t understand what the Bills were trying to do and immediately I said why not run Josh there? They roll Allen out to the short side of the field and nobody is there?

 

Beasley should have caught the 3rd down ball, he did all the hard work and broke his corner off cleanly.

 

Bottom line offensively - Bengals got ZERO pressure on Allen. They didn’t stop the run either. Bills moved the ball at ease. 
 

 

 

Edited January 3, 2023 by Straight Hucklebuck

[Airseven]

15 minutes ago, NewEra said:

The bengals had 8 plays on offense…..

 

an nfl game has multiple twists and turns.  Game plans change.  Coaches adjust.  We can’t tell much of anything based on what we saw.  

 

We can tell that the Bills had few answers for the Bengals passing attack. Johnson and Hamlin went down and the Bengals were targeting the Bills' supposed best corner. This isn't the Bears who were gifted their scripted drive.

[appoo]

3 minutes ago, bobobonators said:

Allen had plenty of time in the pocket and we were moving the ball easily on them. The Bengals got the ball first. Our defense most always struggles off the bat and settles in. Cook was gaining CHUNKS on the ground. You have no idea how this game would’ve ended. Could’ve easily been 38-35 anyone. 
 

 

Had that kind of feel. Eventually we would have asked and Milano to take over the middle of the field rather than man blitzers, and gone a bit ball control on O

[Success]

I was surprised Bease didn't corral that pass. It was overthrown, but he has always been able to pull those in.  Really should have been 7-7 the way we were driving.

 

Great to see Cook continue to find holes and get big gains.  

 

Tre is a step slow right now.  I don't know much about ACL injuries, but I have heard people say it takes time.  

 

[NewEra]

2 minutes ago, Airseven said:

 

We can tell that the Bills had few answers for the Bengals passing attack. Johnson and Hamlin went down and the Bengals were targeting the Bills' supposed best corner. This isn't the Bears who were gifted their scripted drive.

We can tell NOTHING from EIGHT PLAYS.  
 

You can think whatever you want.  
 

[Low Positive]

Bengals came out with their hair on fire. They usually go cold for stretches in games when they attempt to "establish the run" and Joe Burrow gets out of rhythm. That would have happened at some point because it always does with them.