Tell Rex Ryan to get his second stringers some snaps this week against the Bengals. He can rest his starters and still win.

Hey Bengal fans...impressed that some of you remembered me!

It's been an up-and-down year (as expected), but the chance to get back to 0.500 is enough to keep things interesting for most Bills' fans.

As promised, I'll be in town for the game this weekend, so if there are any can't-miss spots for food or drink, feel free to lay them on me.

The most interesting parts of this matchup to me are:

- Buffalo's league-leading pass rush versus a Bengals' OL that has allowed the 3rd-most sacks in the NFL
- Cinci's passing offense, which ranks 4th in YPA against Buffalo's suddenly-suspect secondary, which is allowing a league-worst 8.3 YPA

I'm more than a bit disappointed that we're still missing our best offensive and defensive players, and it has directly cost the team at least 2 games. That's their own fault though--Sammy's rehab physician did a terrible job with him, and Dareus simply hasn't seemed to care enough about football to keep himself in shape after his suspension.

I'm curious what Bengal fans feel is the biggest reason for the team's decline? Loss of Hue Jackson? Missing 3 key offensive weapons from last year? Age/decline of the OL?

I'll be checking in periodically until game time.

Until then, be well.

(11-16-2016, 11:15 AM)thebandit27 Wrote: I'm curious what Bengal fans feel is the biggest reason for the team's decline?  Loss of Hue Jackson?  Missing 3 key offensive weapons from last year?  Age/decline of the OL?

The decline has been caused by a variety of factors imo.  Free agency was not kind to the roster - losing Andre Smith(RT), Reggie Nelson(FS), and Marvin Jones(WR) has proven to be costly.  The loss of Jones has been somewhat masked by Lafell, but the replacements for the first two names listed have not come close to filling the shoes of who they were supposed to replace.  RT has been an especially rough area this season.  The defense has seemed very inconsistent and in a malaise at times.  I'm not sure if it's a scheme issue, the players are overthinking things and losing track of fundamentals, or if the talent just isn't there at this point.  Our DC is also dealing with the turnover of three position coaches(DL, LB, and secondary).  Add in the fact that Adam Jones has gone from being a top 5 corner last year to being very up and down this year and you have this result: a roster with many talented players in their prime who can't seem to carry the team.