It is firmly do-or-die time for the Cincinnati Bengals.
After a faceplant of a home opener with a 41-17 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the Bengals are looking at a likely season-ending loss if they can’t find a way to recover and take down the Buffalo Bills.
Doing so won’t be an easy task. A defense with droves of positioning and tackling problems gave up nearly 600 yards a week ago and might miss a strong pass rusher like Carl Lawson.
As for the offense, a putrid ground game might not get much better in the way of an Ed Oliver-led Bills front. Offensively, the Bills at least have big upside with Josh Allen under center thanks to his ability to extend plays with his feet.
And yet, there is hope.
Picking a Bengals win rests largely in the belief they will play more like the team that almost beat the Seahawks in Seattle to start the season, not the team in Week 2 that looked like it wanted no part of contact.
That’s an easier-than-expected thing to do this week because the Bills are more of a routine matchup schematically, as opposed to an innovative 49ers team led by one of the NFL’s best play-callers.
And while the Bills are 2-0 and wins in the NFL are wins at the pro level, it is admittedly a little hard to put too much stock into beating bad New York teams.
Buffalo’s ground game has looked good but won’t have rookie back Devin Singletary. Meaning — provided the linebackers want to tackle this week — they’re facing a running game with no back averaging better than 2.9 yards per carry on notable attempts. And while Allen is explosive, he’s also prone to overconfident throws defenders can nab.
It’s all a longer way of saying this is a winnable game for a Bengals team that should hopefully be playing better than the Week 2 performance, if not their best ball of the season so far thanks to desperation. And if not, the team has much, much larger problems on its hands than one result.
Look for a big Joe Mixon day with a few defensive turnovers to assist in the effort.
Prediction: Bengals 27, Bills 20
