Five Takeaways From the Cincinnati Bengals' Dominating Win Over the Buffalo Bills

Cincinnati has won 10-straight games for the first time in franchise history.

Author:
Mike Santagata
Publish date:
Jan 23, 2023 9:02 AM EST

In this story:

The Bengals walked into Buffalo and routed the Bills on Sunday.

All three phases of the team played extremely well and it’s honestly hard to find anyone that didn't play up to expectations for the Bengals in this game. They made it look easy, despite being 6-point underdogs. That's a testament to how underrated and mentally strong this team is. Let’s get into some of the takeaways from Cincinnati's 27-10 victory.

The Offensive Line Steps Up

The offensive line arguably played their best or second best game of the year. The amazing thing about that performance is that it comes with three backup offensive linemen.

Hakeem Adeniji, Max Scharping, and Jackson Carman all deserve game balls for how they were able to play in this game. Joe Burrow was only sacked once and Cincinnati ran their normal offense.

After last week where they turned to nearly 60% quick game due to offensive line issues, the Bengals were truly dropping back and letting the ball fly. The offensive line also dominated the Bills front seven when it came to running the ball. The Bengals offensive line was the biggest question mark coming into the game, but they turned that perceived weakness into one of the biggest strengths in the game.

Mr. Plow

Joe Mixon looked like prime Joe Mixon in this game. This essentially works as another section complementing the offensive line, but Mixon ran for 5.3 yards per carry and 105 total yards in this game. To look at some of the advanced numbers, Mixon had a 0.15 EPA per play on the ground which is in the 90th percentile.

Mixon also had a 60% success rate running the ball which is again in elite territory above the 90th percentile and he picked up a first down on 40% of his runs! He did all of this while just punishing Bills defenders from the start of the game until the end. One of his first runs was a toss play where he lowered his shoulder and did an impression of a snow plow on Jordan Poyer. Samaje Perine had a good game as well, but Mixon had an elite game.

Lou Anarumo Does It Again

Lou Anarumo just keeps getting better and better performances from this defense against elite quarterbacks. Josh Allen looked confused, under duress, and frustrated for this entire game. Allen didn't have a passing touchdown, but he threw an interception, and posted a 68.1 passer rating in this game.

Every advanced stat for Allen in this game is well below the 40th percentile and that is rare for him. Allen only achieved a first down on 29% of his passes in this game. The Bills only scored 10 points, which is their lowest output of the season and the only time they were held to just two scores. Outside of a long touchdown drive and a long field goal drive, the Bills offense had four punts with three of those being 3-and-outs, a turnover on downs, and an interception thrown by Allen. This Bengals defense did not even need to do what everyone said they did. Most pundits mentioned that they would have to force turnovers to win this game, but instead they won the game before the interception. They absolutely stifled this Bills offense.

Mike Hilton Is On Fire

In back-to-back weeks, Mike Hilton makes a case for having the best game of all of the defenders. He made eight tackles in this game. Six of those tackles were charted as solo tackles and one of them was a tackle for a loss. He also broke up a pass and had two quarterback hits.

On the Bills' second to last drive, Hilton had a tackle on Cole Beasley, a quarterback hit that was almost ruled a strip sack, and made a stop on Devin Singletary for no gain. Hilton is showing that there really is not a nickel defender more impressive and integral to their team than he is. He’s coach Anarumo’s queen on the chess board who is able to do anything he asks at a high level.

Stefon Diggs Is Silent

On paper, the Stefon Diggs matchup against the Bengals cornerbacks was one of the Bills' biggest advantages. In the canceled game between these two teams, Diggs had nearly 30 yards on the only drive Buffalo had as well so it made sense. In this game, Diggs was held to 4 catches for 35 yards on 10 targets which is very inefficient.

Diggs’ mark of 3.5 yards per target is something you typically will see from a running back, but instead this is coming from an elite wide receiver. There were some misfires from Allen to Diggs in this game, but that also speaks to how tight the coverage was on him for this entire game. The Bengals cornerback room and Anarumo deserve a ton of credit for taking away the Bills best receiver in this game. It’s something that the Patriots were always able to do when they made playoff runs and it has become fairly common for this Bengals defense under Anarumo.

Cincinnati fights Kansas City for a spot in the Super Bowl this Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET on CBS. The game is available via fuboTV—start your free trial here.

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