Smoke and mirrors.
The Cincinnati Bengals’ defense showed promise over the past three games, and even re-ignited hopes for a division title and playoff berth after its five-turnover game against the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night. But it was all smoke and mirrors.
The defense reverted to its old ways when it allowed Buffalo tight ends to go off for 10 receptions, 134 yards, and one touchdown. But its most pressing failure was allowing quarterback Josh Allen to rush for 78 yards and nine carries, including a 40-yard touchdown run with 7:33 left in the game that allowed the Bills to pull within three points of the Bengals at 28-25.
Bengals’ quarterback Joe Burrow hurt an otherwise outstanding performance with back-to-back interceptions, both of which resulted in Buffalo touchdowns, one a 65-yard pick six, before pulling Cincinnati to within 39-34 with only one timeout remaining.
The worst was yet to come. With the Bills facing third-and-15 at their own 25 with 1:54 left to play, the Bengals’ defense could not muster any kind of a pass rush at all and allowed Allen to break free for a 17-yard scramble up the middle to put the game away.
Smoke and mirrors.
Buffalo ended up with 233 yards passing as Allen completed 22 of 28 passes with three touchdowns and no interceptions. Burrow completed 25 of 36 passes for 276 yards, three touchdowns, and two costly interceptions.
The Bills amassed 183 yards on the ground, to only 62 for the Bengals. Chase Brown, who has been on a tear lately, was held to 23 yards on 12 carries, an average of 1.9 yards per carry. Even more damning, Buffalo was never forced to punt, converting on three of four fourth-down attempts.
Cincinnati, which is now three games behind the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC North Division, will not have much time to lament yet another game that got away. The Bengals play host to Baltimore next week and will be facing a reeling Ravens team that is fighting for its own survival after a 27-22 loss to the Steelers.
“I still believe in these guys,” head coach Zac Taylor said after yet another disappointing loss. “We’re up against the wall here with whatever our opportunities are. We have a big home game this week in our division. We’ve got to be able to pick ourselves up and find a way to go respond.”
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