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| ARI at TB | BAL at PIT | CAR at TEN | CIN at BUF | DAL at PHI | DEN at DET | GB at KC | HOU at OAK |
| JAX at NO | NE at IND | SD at MIN | SEA at CLE | SF at ATL | WAS at NYJ | ||
Week 9 Game Recap: Cincinnati Bengals 21, Buffalo Bills 33
What you need to know
| Cincinnati Bengals |
Carson Palmer once again found T.J. Houshmandzadeh for a touchdown pass. He was very accurate as always, but most of his completions were underneath because the Bills were doubling outside receivers.
Kenny Watson and Rudi Johnson split time on the day. Watson served as the receiving back and Johnson was the primary running back. Neither of them had much success against the Bills, and together they had 22 yards.
T.J. Houshmandzadeh continued his touchdown scoring dominance by catching one on the opening drive versus the Bills. Chad Johnson had a tough game, and in the fourth quarter took a huge hit on a crossing route and was taken out by ambulance on what appeared to be a precautionary measure against a neck injury. He was moving his legs and hands, but it was a scary sight.
| Buffalo Bills |
J.P. Losman got the start against Cincinnati over injured Trent Edwards. He had a ton of time because Cincinnati failed to get pressure on him often, and he took advantage most of the day. He seemed in synch with Lee Evans, finding him very frequently. He also ran the ball for few first downs on the day.
Marshawn Lynch was a work horse, and eventually broke through the defense by breaking two tackles in the fourth quarter for a 56 yard touchdown run to close out the game for the Bills. He also threw a touchdown pass to Robert Royal after running the ball six straight times.
Lee Evans had an amazing first drive, catching three passes for 65 yards and a touchdown. He got 11 targets on the day and ran wild against the loose Cincinnati pass defense.
What you ought to know
| QB Carson Palmer, Pass: 26 - 39 - 271 - 2 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 3 - 5 - 0 |
Palmer was on target all day, but his receivers dropped a couple passes and he got a couple of balls tipped at the line of scrimmage. One of those balls was tipped up and almost intercepted, but it fell through the grips of the Bills' defender. His interception came with under 20 seconds left in the game.
| RB Kenny Watson, Rush: 4 - 11 - 0, Rec: 7 - 90 - 0 (10 targets) |
Watson was featured more as a third down back, coming out of the backfield to catch passes often. He got more playing time when the Bills took the lead and Rudi Johnson failed to produce much running offense.
| RB Rudi Johnson, Rush: 9 - 11 - 0, Rec: 1 - 6 - 0 (1 targets) |
Johnson was featured as the between the tackles running back, but had a tough time running the ball against the Bills. He may have scored a touchdown on a run up the gut that was spotted at the one, when another official signaled it a touchdown. He was in for the next play, but Jeremi Johnson ended up catching the touchdown pass.
| RB Jeremi Johnson, Rec: 1 - 1 - 1 (1 targets) |
Johnson caught a one yard touchdown pass coming out of the backfield.
| RB DeDe Dorsey, Rec: 1 - 9 - 0 (1 targets) |
Dorsey came in on the final few plays of the game.
| WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Rec: 4 - 45 - 1 (5 targets) |
Houshmandzadeh had a quiet day other than his touchdown reception. It seemed like the Bills tried to take him out of the game with their coverage.
| WR Chad Johnson, Rush: 1 - 1 - 0, Rec: 3 - 48 - 0 (8 targets) |
Johnson had a chance in the fourth quarter for a huge gain, but he dropped the pass when no Bills defender was within three yards of him, and that killed the drive. It seemed as if he was looking where to run before he caught the ball. He did have some nice receptions during the game, including a sideline pass that looked like an impossible catch, but he managed to get his toes in. He had an ambulance take him off on what looked like a precautionary measure when he was hit hard in the fourth quarter.
| WR Glenn Holt, Rec: 2 - 13 - 0 (5 targets) |
Holt had a 100 yard kickoff return towards the end of the second quarter after the Bills had an eight minute drive for a field goal. He also caught two passes for 13 yards, and a couple of the passes he missed were tough passes when Palmer was pressured.
| WR Antonio Chatman, Rec: 1 - 15 - 0 (1 targets) |
Chatman made a good catch on an out route while well covered on third down to keep a drive going in the second quarter.
| WR Marcus Maxwell, Rec: 1 - 5 - 0 (2 targets) |
Maxwell came in for garbage time after Chad Johnson was injured.
| TE Dan Coats, Rec: 3 - 24 - 0 (3 targets) |
Coats caught a couple short passes and got more playing time as the day went on. It was unclear if anything happened to Reggie Kelly, but his playing time was definitely cut.
| TE Reggie Kelly, Rec: 2 - 15 - 0 (2 targets) |
Kelly only had two targets and caught both balls for 15 yards on the day. It seemed like Daniel Coats took some of his playing time in the second half and it was unclear why this occurred.
| PK Shayne Graham 0 - 0 FG, 3 - 3 XP, 3 points |
Graham made all three extra points, but was not in position to kick field goals as the Bills dominated the field position war.
| CIN Rush Defense |
The rush defense was very good for the most part, but it did give up two big runs, one for 12 yards and one for 56 in which Lynch broke two arm tackles.
| CIN Pass Defense |
The Bengals could not put much pressure on Losman, and Losman took advantage by stepping into his throws and making few mistakes. An interception came on one of those mistakes, when Losman was very short on his deep pass to Lee Evans.
| QB J.P. Losman, Pass: 24 - 34 - 295 - 1 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 4 - 21 - 0 |
Losman showed leadership all game, having great pocket presence and ability to read the defense. Losman was playing against one of the worst pass defenses, but this should be an excellent confidence builder for weeks to come if he retains his job.
| RB Marshawn Lynch, Pass: 1 - 1 - 8 - 1 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 29 - 153 - 1, Rec: 1 - 7 - 0 (1 targets) |
Lynch produced huge numbers, most of them coming in the fourth quarter. He had a touchdown pass on a sweep play and a long 56 yard touchdown run. He did not have extreme success before the fourth, but it seemed like he wore the defense down.
| RB Anthony Thomas, Rec: 1 - 11 - 0 (1 targets) |
Thomas had one catch and played a minimal role in Sunday's game.
| RB Dwayne Wright, Rush: 1 - 2 - 0 |
Wright served as the backup and played limited downs throughout the game.
| WR Lee Evans, Rec: 9 - 165 - 1 (11 targets) |
Evans had a monster first quarter, but then was pretty quiet the rest of the day. He caught three balls and a touchdown on the opening drive, and was the most frequently targeted receiver by Losman, being targeted 11 times.
| WR Josh Reed, Rush: 1 - 0 - 0, Rec: 6 - 55 - 0 (8 targets) |
Reed caught six passes for 55 yards, being a solid possession receiver on the day. He showed good hands and synergy with Losman.
| WR Roscoe Parrish, Rec: 1 - -2 - 0 (1 targets) |
Parrish caught one ball for a loss of two yards on the day. He was not in the lineup much, as Reed and Evans took the role of top wide receivers.
| TE Michael Gaines, Rec: 3 - 22 - 0 (3 targets) |
Gaines caught all three passes thrown his way and split time with Robert Royal.
| TE Robert Royal, Rec: 2 - 35 - 1 (4 targets) |
Royal caught a touchdown thrown by Marshawn Lynch in the fourth quarter. He split times with Michael Gaines.
| TE Derek Schouman, Rec: 2 - 10 - 0 (2 targets) |
Schouman was the fullback and caught both passes thrown his way.
| PK Rian Lindell 4 - 4 FG, 3 - 3 XP, 15 points |
Lindell made four field goals on the day and all of his extra points. Buffalo had problems putting the ball into the end zone in the first three quarters, so Lindell had several opportunities and he took advantage of them.
| BUF Rush Defense |
The Bills were very tough against the run. The Bengals could not get anything going and were forced to pass the ball often.
| BUF Pass Defense |
The Bills pass defense took away Houshmandzadeh for most of the game, and forced the other players to beat them. This caused many short passes, and combined with a couple of drops, the Bills kept the Bengals at bay.
