'No Charge, No Electricity!' Bills OT Dion Dawkins Talks Playoff Loss To Bengals
The Buffalo Bills' season came to an abrupt and crashing halt with a 27-10 loss to the rival Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Divisional Playoff in January.
It was an un-Bills-like performance, as the team went down 14-0 early in the game and managed just a field goal after halftime. During an appearance on The Herd this week, Bills offensive tackle Dion Dawkins said the entire game "felt weird."
“That Cincinnati game was definitely weird,” Dawkins said. “You go through your ups and downs and it’s sad that we go through a down at a time like that. But we just hit a down at the wrong time. And I think with the journey that we’ve been on, we have been through every phase of football that can happen — which would be the recipe for the creation of this season.
“But Cincinnati, it was just a different feel. Everything just felt weird. I don’t want to blame it on anything, but from the first time we met them, we had a tragedy happen. And then the second time that we played them, it was just like, that energy — it was just very, very weird. I don’t even know how to explain it. It was just a very, very rare feeling. And I think it was felt through the entire locker room, through the coaching staff, through everything. It was just a very unique situation.”
Buffalo visibly played like a team that was unprepared and outmatched by its opponent. The Bills allowed the Bengals to convert 6-of-10 third downs, and rack up 414 total yards. “There was no charge, electricity,” Dawkins said. “There was something, but it wasn’t the Bills. Whatever football gods jumped on our back, they jumped on us.”
And things will only get tougher on Buffalo in the coming seasons. After losing in the divisional round for two consecutive years, the AFC East looks to be even more competitive with Miami and New York much improved.
The road to a Super Bowl may still go through Buffalo, but that road just became a lot narrower.
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