Cincinnati Bengals vs Buffalo Bills 2023 Week 9 Preview and Prediction

By Jalen Willingham

The Cincinnati Bengals will face the Buffalo Bills at home on Sunday Night in week 9 of the 2023 NFL Season.

When: Sunday, November 5th at 8:20 pm

Where: Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio

Network: NBC

Offense:

Joe Burrow and the Bengals offense lit up one of the best defenses in football last week. Week nine won’t be any easier. The Bills defense is second in the NFL with 28 sacks. They are also second in quarterback hits. Their pass rush comes from many different directions with Leonard Floyd, Ed Oliver, and A.J. Epenesa leading the way. Von Miller will also be looking to make his presence known as well. He surprisingly has zero sacks so far.

It will be crucial to give Joe Burrow enough time in the pocket to make plays happen. Burrow has his mobility back. Staying under three sacks is great for the offense. Cincinnati should once again stick to the run and not become one-dimensional. The Bills are giving up nearly five yards a carry on the ground. Joe Mixon had 105 yards and a touchdown in the Divisional round win back in January.

If the rushing offense can get going, it will be much harder to slow the passing game down. The Bills defense will look to take away the big plays down the field. This should once again be a good matchup in favor of the Bengals pass catchers. Ja’Marr Chase should continue to be utilized all around the field. Hopefully, Tee Higgins continues to look like himself again by giving the Bengals another solid game.

Burrow made headlines last week, but Mixon may thrive this week

Buffalo against the run:
Explosive runs allowed: 15% (31st)
Yards allowed after contact: 3.88 (Worst in NFL)

Mixon accounts for 87.3% of backfield touches for the Bengals, 1st in the NFLhttps://t.co/soOcmiFHty

— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) November 3, 2023

Defense

The Bengals defense shut down the 49ers offense for the majority of the game on their turf. Buffalo presents another challenge. Containing Josh Allen is priority number one. Allen is a better quarterback than Purdy. He is a threat on the ground and through the air. Turnovers are his weakness though. Winning the turnover battle on both sides of the ball is key for Cincinnati. Cincinnati’s defense has been very opportunistic this year.

The Bills won’t look to run first but their running back options are viable. James Cook is averaging 4.8 yards a carry. Cincinnati has done a much better job against the run the past few weeks. Allen is leading Buffalo with five rushing touchdowns though. Keeping his scramble to a minimum while causing him to make mistakes should be huge for the Bengals defense.

Putting pressure on Allen is critical as well. Bills right tackle Spencer Brown has given up four sacks and has also allowed the most pressures as well. Trey Hendrickson will be alive and well, but Sam Hubbard could be in for a big day too. He has four sacks in the last five games

So far, the Bengals have only allowed one receiver to go over 100 yards in a game. Cam Taylor Britt against Stefan Diggs is a matchup to watch. The Bengals have done well so far at containing the other team’s best receiver. This could cause Josh Allen to look more to Gabriel Davis or rookie tight end Dalton Kincaid. Cincinnati has struggled with tight ends so it won’t shock me if Kincaid gets more targets than usual.

Prediction

Last year, Damar Hamlin’s unfortunate injury caused the game to be canceled entirely. The two teams then met again in the playoffs. Hopefully, both teams make it through this matchup injury-free,