Last Week the Bengals gave up five turnovers in a loss to the Indianapolis Colts who, despite every opportunity, only beat the Bengals by six. Peyton Manning's record against the Bengals remains perfect and the Bengals fall farther down the rabbit hole to find themselves with a 2-7 record and eliminated from the playoffs.
Boo.
This Week the Bengals play the lowly 1-8 Bills who sit at 30 on the NFL's latest power rankings (don't get too excited, the Bengals sit at 28). While this seems like an easy win on paper, remember that the Bengals haven't been able to beat the Bills since their AFC divisional playoff game in 1988. Since that game, the Bills have won nine in a row. Both teams have nothing to lose and both teams will be fighting to feel a little better about themselves.
And the best news is, even if the Bengals win, it's unlikely they'll sell the game out so, if they do win, you won't be able to see it unless you're there.
Boo.
So, how do the Bills stack up against the Bengals compared to how the Colts did. This should be fairly easy. Let's get to it.
Ryan Fitzpatrick VS Peyton Manning:
Considering that the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio already has a room reserved for the older of the Manning brothers, I'd say that Manning takes this one.
Winner: Manning of course
What the Bengals need to do:
If the Bengals defense can do the same thing against Fitzpatrick that they did against Manning the Great, then they should have no problem against the former Bengal backup quarterback. What the Bengals defense does need to remember is that Fitzpatrick can run the ball if he needs to.
Bills Running Game VS Colts Running Game:
Against the Bengals, the Colts running back corp was so depleted that they were down from having Joseph Addai, Mike Hart, Donald Brown and Javarris James to just running the ball with Brown and James. The Bengals held the Colts to 76 rushing yards and one touchdown. So far this season, the Bills rank right in the middle of the pack (15th) in the NFL in rushing yards per game with 110.9. The Colts rank 27th in the NFL with 90.4 yards rushing yards per game.
Winner: Bills Running Game
What the Bengals need to do:
The Bengals defense should be more than capable of stopping the Bills running game especially if the offense can get ahead by a few scores which would force the Bills to pass the ball and give up on running the ball.
Bills Receivers VS Colts Receivers:
Reggie Wayne, Pierre Garcon and Jacob Tamme > Lee Evans, Steve Johnson and David Martin. No questions about it.
Winner: Colts Receivers
What the Bengals need to do:
If the Bengals can hold Wayne and Garcon to just 71 yards and no touchdowns then they shouldn't have much of a problem keeping the Bills receivers at bay. The main key here is for both Leon Hall and Jonathan Joseph being at 100 percent health and for Morgan Trent's replacement, Rico Murray, to play as well as he did against the Colts.
Bills Defense VS Colts Defense
The Bills rank 26th in the NFL in total defense compared to the Colts who rank 18th. The Bills rank dead last in stopping the run, giving up an average of 166.9 yards per game (which is good because Cedric Benson is on my fantasy team and the playoffs start this week) but they rank seventh against the pass, only giving up 206.8 passing yards per game. The Colts rank 29th against the run and 10th against the pass.
Winner: I'm going to give the edge to the Colts defense mainly because they don't rank last in either defending the rush or the pass and they had the home field advantage, an advantage the Bills will not have.
What the Bengals need to do:
Against the worst defense at defending the run in the NFL, the obvious answer is give the ball to Benson early and often. Oh, and DON'T TURN THE BALL OVER FIVE TIMES. That's about it.