Buffalo Bills vs Cincinnati Bengals: What to Watch For

Today, two franchises heading in different directions meet up in Cincinnati in a game that could put the Bills in the best position they have been in years. With the Patriots playing out in Oakland and the Jets playing in Baltimore it is possible with a win that the Bills could be two games up on both the Patriots and Jets. Even if the Patriots and Jets win, the Bills can move to 4-0. The Buffalo Bills will face the rookie QB Andy Dalton.

We here at NFLmocks are always most interested in the young players so let’s take a look at some of the key matchups for the young guys. And because the Bills and Bengals have been so lousy recently, there are a lot of high draft picks competing in this game.

Fred Jackson (and the young Bills Oline) vs the Young Bengals front

The Bengals defense really has a very good young emerging group in the front seven. Michael Johnson has shown some of the same inconsistency that plauged him in college and cost him a first round pick, but besides him the Bengals are also starting second year DT Geno Atkins. Carlos Dunlap also gets a lot of snaps even though he doesn’t start. Last year he ended the season with 9.5 sacks. This year he has yet to register a sack, but it’s coming. This year is a big year for Rey Maualuga. The Bengals want to see more consistency and production from him as well.

The Bills also have a few young players at key positions on the offensive line, especially in the middle where they play Andy Levitre and Eric Wood. The Bills offensive line looks much improved even from last year. This is always the key matchup in every game, but I’m interested to see which young players play well this weekend.

A.J. Green vs Leodis McKelvin

A.J. Green has had a very nice start to his rookie season, even though he has yet to get in the end-zone with the football. Leodis McKelvin and the Bills entire secondary really struggled last week vs the Patriots, even though they came away with four interceptions. A.J. Green is a monster athlete and probably has the advantage. The Bills cornerbacks are nothing special.

To go along with that matchup is Andy Dalton vs the Bills secondary.

The Bills secondary isn’t great in limiting yardage. They give up a lot of yards every year, but what they can do well is bait quarterbacks into making throws and then making plays on the ball. The Bills have intercepted a lot of balls (they got four vs Brady last week). I’ll be watching whether or not Jarius Byrd, specifically, can bait Dalton into a bad pick. Byrd has 9 interceptions in his rookie year, but only 1 between all of last season and the beginning of this season.

Marcell Dareus vs Andre Smith

This is like a sumo match. The 6’4 335 pound Smith will line up vs the 6’3 340 pound Dareus. The Benglas are at their best when they can pound the rock with Cedric Benson. This will be a key matchup for the Bengals. If they can keep Dareus who has been excellent at plugging holes in the run game early this year they could have some success running on the Bills defense, which will open up the passing game for the Bengals.

C.J. Spiller vs the Fantasy Football Waiver Wire

People who were expecting a big season out of C.J. Spiller and spent a higher draft pick on him are getting antsy. Fred Jackson has been so good that the Bills aren’t giving the ball much to Spiller. This year Spiller has 13 offensive touches in the first three games (10 carries for 82 yards and 3 receptions for 11 yards). If this keeps up Spiller is going to be available on a lot of fantasy football waiver wires.

Spiller has dynamic ability, but he hasn’t been able to succeed yet. With Roscoe Parrish out for the season the Bills may start to use Spiller more in a WR role. It’ll be interesting to see if the Bills can get Spiller some much needed touches.

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