As a bills fan the most shocking part of the game vs the Texans was how aggressive Buffalo was in the passing attack down field. I think the Texans cbs weren't used to being challenged that aggressively and Buffalo was able to get a quick 24 -14 lead. Moore, Palmer, Shakir & Kincaid aren't as good as Chase & Higgins but man they are true pros. the bills made plays at the end and got lucky with a couple turnover worthy plays from Cook & Allen.
Brady looks like he's completely different from McDermott in that he's going to live with the consequences of Allen and some variance and maximize possessions. He's not going to purposely constrain Allen out of fear of what might happen... He's going to embrace the full upside of allens arm...He figures if you beat the bills you're going to have to actually beat the bills and Allen throwing it everywhere. No more conservative, shorten the game and bubble screens 15x a game. I do think Allen will have a few more turnovers and Favre like games but I also think Allen might pass for 5000 yards and 40 tds. This is why I picked Buffalo vs Cincinnati for the afc championship but I had Cincinnati winning because the bills defense is probably pretty meh. We'll see how it turns out. I'm guessing Brady figures if I'm going to go down at the poker table I'm going all in on Allens arm.... It's probably the most dangerous version of Allen but with 80% good, 20% bad. As a bills fan you just have to hope he's hot in January with healthy Moore and Kincaid. I have said for many years now that there is a segment of Allen's DNA that really is the Brett favre from this era and that the bills actually need to just lean into it and accept that's the type of quarterback he is because that's the most dangerous version. Hopefully they are at peace with that and if they get beat because of a couple mistakes, it is what it is. But you can't hold back a qb like Allen out of fear of mistakes. You limit all the upside and could still make mistakes regardless.
The unsung hero was the bills oline. They borderline dominated the Texans and it wasn't just with max protect. Dawkins & Brown were awesome and didn't get enough praise after the game.
If Cincinnati protects Burrow I fully expect him to destroy the Texans.
The Texans secondary is a little bit overrated if they're not getting pressure with Hunter/ Anderson
I think the Texans are good obviously but they just don't have the true offensive infrastructure to beat Cincinnati if Cincinnati is operating at full capacity
Bengals 34
Texans 20
Burrow 335 yds 2tds
Bengals 5 sacks
