In a 27-10 win over Buffalo, Joe Burrow and Co. will now face Kansas City for the AFC Championship
Orchard Park, NY– On a day marked by flurries of white coming from the northeast, Joe Burrow’s Bengals won a decisive victory over the Buffalo Bills. In what seemed like the marquee matchup of the Divisional Round, the Bengals took control and never let up, keeping their foot on the gas all four quarters.
This means the Bengals will face the Kansas City Chiefs next week in Arrowhead Stadium for the AFC Championship Crown.
The Bengals were near perfect throughout the entire day, with Burrow throwing two touchdowns off the rip to Ja’Marr Chase and Hayden Hurst who were both wide open. That set the pace for most of the day as the Bengals jumped out to a 14-0 lead and didn’t look back. The snow definitely had a huge impact throughout the game as defensive lineman couldn’t seem to get the jump off the ball and slippage was prevalent throughout.
Nevertheless, Cincinnati ran the ball straight down Buffalo’s throat for the entire duration of the game. Joe Mixon ran for 105 yards on 20 carries and a touchdown, giving proof that the Bill’s run defense was stunned. Burrow had another lights out game, proving to us that his slow start to the season was just him shaking the rust off– completing 23 out of 36 passes for 242 yards plus 2 touchdowns. An impressive game amidst the flurries. Burrow’s near-perfect game came with him spreading the wealth to 8 receivers. Diversity amongst the cats.
On the other hand, Buffalo couldn’t seem to stop the Bengals from dogwalking them. No matter what defense the Bills lined up in, it seemed as if Cincy had an answer. The defense struggled all day, and with Joe Mixon’s touchdown in the third quarter, despite Josh Allen being on the field, it seemed to raise serious questions if the Bills were ever going to get back in the game.
Josh Allen put an end to what seemed to be a slugfest of a game offensively, throwing for over 200 yards at 265, Allen failed to throw his way into the endzone however did scamper his way in with a rushing touchdown. Allen also threw an interception, one which summed up the offensive output of Buffalo. Buffalo lost only their second home playoff game since the NFL-AFL merger, playing testament to how uncharacteristic this loss really was.
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Allen also put a period to what some critics call a regression. While Allen statistically has been similar to previous years, he has been more willing to give up the ball via turnovers in 2022, what some are calling foreshadowing to the death of a dominant Bills era.
Damar Hamlin was also in the building, with this game being a rematch of his fateful injury only a couple weeks ago.
Cincinnati will head to Kansas City next week to take on Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, who won Saturday against the Jaguars.
