By Nick Wojton / Billswire.usatoday.com
The Bills have had a few things in common in their first two games of the 2019 season. First, they’ve won both, against the Jets and Giants, respectively.
In addition, both have taken place at MetLife Stadium.
Remember New Era Field? Welcome home, Bills Mafia, the Bills have their 2019 home opener this week against the Cincinnati Bengals.
But first, here are eight things to know about the Bills’ Week 3 opponent, the Bengals:
New coach searching for first win
So yeah, remember Marvin Lewis? No more Marv in Cincy.
Perhaps it seems like only yesterday that Lewis was being considered for the Buffalo head coach vacancy. Well as it turns out, that was some 17 years ago and ever since then, the NFL’s franchise in Southern Ohio has had one head coach. Lewis for 16 seasons.
Lewis was a well-respected coach, but will be remembered for his lack of postseason successes, unfortunately. It’s not like the Bills didn’t go through something awfully similar, though.
But looking ahead, Cincy has hitched their wagon to Zac Taylor. Previously an understudy of Rams head coach Sean McVay, Taylor’s an offensive-minded head coach, as opposed to the defensive-minded Lewis. As of Sunday at New Era Field, Taylor is still looking for his first win as a head coach after his team lost to the Seahawks and 49ers in the opening weeks of this season, respectively.
Andy Dalton is dealing
The hero of Western New York. Quarterback Andy Dalton is still slinging it for the Bengals. Of course, he’s the hero of Bills Mafia for his pass that sent the Bills to the playoffs for the first time in nearly two decades, as you’ll likely recall.
Having said that, Dalton’s actually off to a good start despite his team’s slow start. As mentioned, Taylor is an offensive coach and former QB and QB coach himself. Taylor has helped Dalton start hot, he’s second in the NFL in passing yards with 729, trailing only Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes (821). Dalton’s also been relatively safe with the ball still, tossing four touchdowns with only one interception.
That puts Dalton on pace for 5,832 passing yards, 32 touchdowns, and eight interceptions with a 65.6 completion percent and 99.3 passer rating. Week 2 saw the Bengals lose 41-17 to the 49ers, so some of his numbers are in garbage time, but Week 1 was a close one, going to the Seahawks, 21-20.
AJ Green out, but there’s others
Tre’Davious White is very good, but he hasn’t been very good against AJ Green in his career, who put up a monster 150-plus yard game with a touchdown against him in the past. But having said that, no AJ? No problem. He’s out for this one.
But, there’s more… John Ross has finally had his coming out party as a former first-round pick. The burner is absolutely off to a fast start this year. Dalton second in the NFL in passing yards? Ross leads the NFL in receiving yards with 270 total yards, edging out Chiefs wideout Sammy Watkins (247) for that title, for what it’s worth.
But 15th in the NFL in terms of receiving yards is Tyler Boyd, the other end of the miracle that sent Buffalo to the playoffs in 2017. He has 182, in total, but no scores. Ross has three in two games. Buffalo’s secondary might have their hands full this week, but it should be a fun matchup to watch.
Defense was night and day
Through two games, we’re not exactly sure what to expect out of the Bengals defense. The Bengals had a good season opener. Cincy had four sacks and only allowed 233 total yards against Seattle. The defensive line had seven total QB pressures.
Then that all evaporated in their blowout to the 49ers.
The 49ers had 291 total yards… at halftime.
Overall, San Francisco finished with 572 yards and confused the Bengals with some misdirections. Their run defense, which finished 29th in the NFL a year ago, allowed 259 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 42 rushes (6.2 average) a week ago. Plus, the pass rush evaporated. Zero sacks and two QB pressures on Jimmy Garoppolo.
Offensive line struggling
While Dalton is dealing, he’s spending plenty of time on the turf, too. Dalton has been sack nine times in the first two games of the season. Not a good start for Cincy’s offensive line. Josh Allen has hit the ground half as many times. Opponents have also gotten a combined 11 QB hits on him as well.
On the ground, it’s not gone much better. Last week the Bengals’ running backs struggled mightily. Joe Mixon had 11 carries for 17 yards while Gio Bernard has six carries for six yards. In their tighter opening game, Bernard led the Bengals in rushing with only 21 yards.
According to Pro Football Focus, two of the Bengals’ starting offensive linemen have graded as either “below average” or “poor” through the first two weeks of the season. Both on the left side of the line. Left tackle Andre Smith clocks in at a 53.3 overall thus far while left guard Mike Jordan lands at 43.4 overall.
Bengals fans are restless
A bad start means bad vibes from the Cincy Jungle. Bengals fans are already upset. After last week’s game, the team hear the boo-birds. So much so that players have already commented on it.
Via Bengals Wire, here’s what QB Andy Dalton said:
“It’s one of those things where we want to put a good performance out there —something they can cheer for. I’ve never understood booing; I don’t know what that accomplishes. But, at the end of the day, we have to play better and give them something to cheer for. We want the fans to be behind us, and we want the city to be behind us…They’re a big part of this city, this organization, and what we want to be. Unfortunately we didn’t play well today and didn’t give them too much to cheer for. But we want this city to be behind us.”
Running back Joe Mixon wasn’t happy about it either.
“It’s definitely frustrating…you just see fans leaving and booing…at the end of the day we want to win too…if they feel like they can do it better, come try out.”
The Bengals will be motivated to not leave Orchard Park 0-3, if you can’t tell by now.
Banged up bunch
While they’ll want to stop the boos, the Bengals will also want to stop the injury bug this week. As mentioned, AJ Green is already sidelined, but the Bengals won’t have their first-round rookie either. Offensive lineman Jonah Williams won’t see the field at all as a rookie.
Some others already mentioned are also battling injures this week.
The full rundown: Left tackle Andre Smith has a groin injury but should play, pass rusher Carl Lawson left last week with a hamstring injury but is OK, corner BW Webb is day-to-day with a concussion, guard Mike Jordan is likely to miss with a knee injury, and defensive end Kerry Wynn is in the concussion protocol as well. Running back Joe Mixon played last week, but has battle an ankle injury himself.
Former Bills still playing significant roles
Hey, remember these guys? There’s still a few former Bills players that have taken on some significant roles with the Bengals. On offense, there’s two, both on the line. Cordy Glenn, who was traded to the Bengals in Buffalo’s effort to trade up for Josh Allen at the 2018 NFL draft, is still in Cincy. However, pretend we listed him on the last page. He’s currently in the concussion protocol as well.
Additionally, John Miller is a starter on the offensive line and will likely play vs. the Bills. PFF has graded him as a solid player thus far, too. He clocks in at an overall grade of 70.5 this season. Along with Miller, former Bills linebacker Preston Brown will also suit up for the Bengals in this one. He’s had an up-and-down tenure with Cincy since leaving Buffalo, but the hometown kid stuck around with the Bengals this year after re-signing with them this offseason.
All three players were once draft picks of the Bills.