Nothing can faze Joe “Cool” Burrow and his Cincinnati Bengals. In the biggest shock of the weekend, the Cincinnati Bengals completely and thoroughly decimated the Bills in Orchard Park 27-10 to move on to face the KC Chiefs in the AFC Championship game.
This has to be the biggest shock of the playoffs to date.
Despite playing in front of a raucous, ravenous Buffalo crowd, Damar Hamlin watching on from the stands, and the game taking place in the middle of a classic Buffalo blizzard, Josh Allen and the Bills were utterly destroyed by Joe Burrow and the Cincinatti Bengals. And I mean DESTROYED.
For all of the talk about the Bengals offensive line missing three starters, you would have thought that they replaced them with the 1970’s Oakland Raiders offense line of Jim Otto, Gene Upshaw, Art Shell, and Co. as they hammered the Bills defensive frontline.
I honestly can’t explain how a frontline of Ed Oliver (1 tackle), Greg Rousseau (3 tackles 1 QB hit), and Shaq Lawson (1 tackle, 1 QB hit) and a pair of linebackers the quality of Matt Milano (10 tackles, 1 sack, 2 TFL, 1 PF, 1 QB hit) and Tremaine Edmunds (12 tackles, 1 PD) gets driven into next week by literally backups.
Joe Mixon (20 CAR, 105 yards, 1 TD) and Samaje Perine (7 CAR, 33 yards) were able to run wherever they wished whenever they wanted as the Bengals rushing attacked finished with 172 total rushing yards. It truly was a shellacking of epic proportions.
Obviously, such a potent running attack forced the Bills to put more men in the box, which allowed Joe Burrow to rip apart what remained of an injury-riddled Bills secondary. Connecting with Ja’Marr Chase (5 REC, 61 yards, 1 TD), Hayden Hurst (5 REC, 59 yards, 1 TD), and Tee Higgins (3 REC, 28 yards) on many key downs, Joe Burrow finished the game with 23/36 completions for 242 yards and 2 TDs. Remember, he did all this IN A BLIZZARD!
Joe Burrow proved that he is the quarterback in the AFC that everyone will compare and compete against the great Patrick Mahomes, not Josh Allen or any other contender. And that might be undervaluing Joe Burrow as he currently has a 3-game winning streak against Mahomes and the Chiefs, which includes his victory over Mahomes in the AFC Championship game last season.
Nevertheless, as I said, Josh Allen really hurt his case as the best QB in the AFC with his performance today.
Simply put, he was awful as he completed 25/42 passes for 265 yards and 1 INT, while none of his receivers finished with more than 70 yards and the running game picked up just 65 total yards. Of course, the Bengals defense, led by Trey Hendrickson (1 QB hit), Logan Wilson (7 tackles, 1 QB hit), Mike Hilton (8 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 PD, 2 QB hits), and Sam Hubbard (1 tackle, 1 QB hit), was great with 58 tackles, 1 sack, 2 TFL, 8 PD, 8 QB hits, and 1 INT, but the Bills offense shot themselves in the foot time and again.
Now, as a Patriots fan, nothing brings me more joy than to see the Bills muff up yet another chance at a Super Bowl, though a little part of me feels bad for the Bills mafia.
They went through hell this year with the Damar Hamlin incident and the numerous other injuries to Buffalo players, and they never stopped supporting their team. They didn’t deserve to witness a blowout loss in the snow to Joe Burrow and the Bengals. And they most definitely won’t be happy with a 3rd straight season of failing to reach the Super Bowl after red-hot starts to the campaign.
So, if I was Sean McDermont, I’d be getting a little nervous about my job security. Yes, he has taken this team from the laughingstock of the NFL to Super Bowl contenders in 6 seasons, but he has yet to prove he can win meaningful games with a championship-caliber roster.
Nonetheless, the Bills are now last week’s story as the Bengals will face off against the Kansas City Chiefs in a rematch of last year’s AFC Championship game. Though, fortunately for the Bengals, Patrick Mahomes will be coming into the game on a lame leg as he was diagnosed with a high ankle sprain early today.
We’ll see if that proves to be the difference in the battle of the two best teams in the AFC.
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