The Buffalo Bills host the Cincinnati Bengals, both teams come into this game somewhere near the bottom of their divisions. Buffalo was 3-2 sitting in last place and Bengals were 2-3 sitting in third place. The first quarter was not much to talk about as the defenses were playing incredible. The quarter ended at 0-0. The second quarter was much of the same. The Bengals were able to get down the field and score a TD with not much time to score in the half. Tyler Eifert was the one to score on a 5 yard slant. The Bengals lead 7-0 at half.

     In the second Bengals received and the same trend continued. Punt after punt. Somewhere in the second half Tyrod was hit on a roll out that went to Clay for a 27 yard gain. The hit took Tyrod out of the game and likely out for the season. After that hit things got a little weird. Josh Johnson comes in and with little confidence gives the ball to the running backs the entire drive. Not establishing much of a run game the team settled for a FG on the goal line.

     The 4th quarter begins and the score is 7-3. Josh Johnson comes back on to the field and throws a touchdown pass to Marquise Goodwin. The Bills finally take a 10-3 lead. Not too much later Andy Dalton was able to work the ball up the field and find AJ Green for a touchdown to make the score 14-10, Bengals. With about 6 mins left in the game Josh Johnson takes the field once more. After a few nice rushes and little dump off passes, Johnson found himself in scoring position again. This time he hot routes Goodwin to a slant and Goodwin gets past the defender on what looked like an all out blitz, he scores again. Score now 17-14 with quiet a bit of time left for Andy to work. Buffalo steps up and forces a punt with 3 mins left in the game. Kevin Hubert punts the ball and puts the Bills on the 4 yard line. Johnson backed up into the end zone, not very comfortable asks the coach can he get in the shotgun and try to get a dump off to someone to maybe give him a bit of breathing room. Josh lines up and dumps it off for about 2 yards. Then they try to run the ball and get no yards. With their backs against the wall and wind coming heavy against them, Buffalo does not want to punt. They decide to take a shot. Josh Johnson lines up in the gun again. Josh hikes it looks around no one open, he sees Goodwin with a lane in the defense, Goodwin catches the ball and takes off for 94 yards and his THIRD touchdown of the game. That puts the game on ice with about 2:40 left in the game. Final score 24-14.

     No one in that Bills stadium had a Josh Johnson or Marquise Goodwin jersey on and I am sure no one in that stadium thought either of those players would be the hero of this defensive showdown. Those 2 gave the fans a lot to cheer for but the fact remains that Tyrod Taylor is out 8 weeks with a herniated disk. Big loss for the Bills.

Key Stats:
Tyrod Taylor 7 for 11 103 yards 0 tds 2 ints
Josh Johnson 9 ror 13 204 yards 3 tds 0 ints
Marquise Goodwin 4 catches for 154 yards 3 tds

Defense forced 3 ints by Ronald Darby, Duke Williams and Aaron Williams.

Great game Steve Walter.