Buffalo Bills: Three keys for victory in Week 3 against Cincinnati Bengals

Keys for the Buffalo Bills to come out victorious in their home opener against the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Buffalo Bills will host the Cincinnati Bengals in their home opener this week. If Buffalo wins this game, they will go to 3-0 on the season. This would be the first time since 2008 that they have started 3-0.

The Buffalo Bills are 2-0 for the first time since the 2014 season and have had a record of 2-0 five times since the 2000 season. Of those five seasons where they started 2-0, they haven’t made the playoffs in any of those seasons. The last time, in fact, they made the playoffs after a 2-0 start is 1996, where they beat the Giants and Patriots to open the season.

So history isn’t necessarily on their side at the moment, but what happens if they win this week against the Bengals and go to 3-0? What would their odds be then? Only twice since 1992 have the Bills made it to a 3-0 record, that being 1992 and 2008 respectfully. In 1992, they reached the Super Bowl. In 2008, they still finished last in the AFC East.

The Bills will play the next five of six games at home which could help them go on a run and continue this hot start. Their next six games have the Bills at home against the Bengals and Patriots then on the road against the Titans before coming back home to face the Dolphins, Eagles and Redskins. This team has a legitimate chance to pull out at least four wins in this stretch and be 6-2 at the halfway mark.

The schedule does get tougher for the Buffalo Bills towards the end of the season, with five of the last eight games on the road. The playoffs will definitely depend on a strong finish with those road games. Stacking up as many wins as possible early in the season is incredibly important for this team.

While the Bills defense has always been strong over the last few seasons, the offense has always seemed to struggle. Now, the offense is starting to come together with a lot of new pieces that were acquired in the offseason. Josh Allen has been hot throwing 200+ yards for the last seven games dating back to last year.

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Can the Buffalo Bills continue their hot start and take down the Cincinnati Bengals at home this weekend? Here are the three biggest keys for victory in this game.

1. Bills must stop Andy Dalton and Bengals passing attack

The Buffalo Bills have the sixth-best passing defense through two games so far. Despite their 0-2 start, the Bengals have been impressive on offense this season. Through two games, Cincinnati is 11th in total offense and has the second-best passing offense in the NFL.

Andy Dalton has 729 passing yards, two touchdowns and one interception in his first two games this year. Against Seattle in Week 1, they came close to winning with Dalton putting up 418 yards in that game. Week 2 against San Francisco, he put up 311 yards in a blowout loss.

I favor the Bills defense over the Bengals offense because the Bills linebackers are quick to the ball and their pass rushers can put pressure on Andy Dalton, which can make for a tough day for him.

2. Josh Allen must continue to shine

The Buffalo Bills passing offense ranks ninth overall the first two games and Josh Allen has been on a streak of seven games of 200 or more yards a game. The Bengals passing defense ranks as an average unit compared to other NFL teams, which is better than where they were in 2018, but the Bills offense is also better than a season ago.

I believe the Bills passing game will succeed versus the Bengals and John Brown will have a 100 yards or more on Sunday. Cole Beasley, who has become Allen’s favorite target early this year after coming over as a free agent from Dallas, should have a strong game as well.

3. Big day for Bills running backs

The Cincinnati Bengals 30th ranked rushing defense will have a tough time stopping the ninth-ranked rushing attack of the Buffalo Bills. Lead running back Frank Gore will most likely get most of the carries and if Devin Singletary is healthy, he will likely see a big role as well. Singletary could be on his way to his first 100-yard game if he suits up on Sunday afternoon.

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If Singletary can’t suit up, the Bills will look to T.J. Yeldon who could come in at the right time and shine against the Bengals. T.J. Yeldon has a solid 4.0 average run per carry in his fifth year in the league. Whoever is in the backfield for the Bills should test the Bengals by pounding the ball as much as possible and as early as possible to test their soft run defense.

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