Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Joe Burrow factor. The Cincinnati Bengals have it back.
The Bengals' star quarterback started the first two games of the season, where Cincinnati won both contests. However, Burrow was knocked out of that second game with a toe injury.
He then went on to miss the next nine games of the season, where the Bengals went 1-8.
Burrow managed to return for their latest game on Thanksgiving, a 32-14 victory over their AFC North rival Ravens in Baltimore.
Cincinnati has won the last eight games Burrow has started going back to last season. He will lead the 4-8 Bengals to Highmark Stadium on Sunday, a place where he has a playoff victory over the Bills to his credit.
Burrow's career numbers are impressive. He's completed 68% of his passes, averaged 270 passing yards a game and has 144 touchdown passes in 72 games played. However, he's missed 22 games in his now six-year NFL career.
Cincinnati's top running back is Chase Brown, who is playing his best right now. Brown has averaged 94 yards rushing over his last three games. For the season, he has 704 yards and two touchdowns.
Since Week 7, Brown is seventh in the league in rushing.
Where Brown is also a weapon is in the passing game. His 48 catches are the second-most on the team.
Brown has topped 100 yards from scrimmage in each of Cincinnati's last six games. That is a franchise record-long streak, and the longest active streak in the NFL.
Samaje Perrine only has 46 carries this season (Brown has 160), but Perrine has a very good yards per-carry average of 5.2.
But the guy to worry about is one of the league's best receivers, Ja'Marr Chase.
The former LSU star is second in the league in catches with 86. He is fourth in receiving yards with 971, despite having Burrow for only two full games this season. Chase is also fourth in the NFL in catches for a first down, and sixth in yards after the catch.
In four of the last five games, the Bills have had cornerback Christian Benford shadow the opponent's top receiver. He will likely be tasked with spending a good part of his day following Chase.
The Bengals' other top receiving threat is Tee Higgins. He's been out with a concussion, but did return to practice this week. Higgins has 40 catches this season for 575 yards and a team-best seven receiving touchdowns.
Even though they lost Burrow in the second game of the season, Cincinnati's biggest problem was, and has been its defense. There have been significant improvements in recent weeks, but their numbers are at, or near the bottom of the league in most categories.
The Bengals defense is ranked dead-last in points, total yards per-game, total yards per-play, pass yards and first downs allowed. They are second-to-last in rush yards, passing average and third-down efficiency.
Until the 32-14 win in Baltimore, the Bengals went 10-straight games giving up, at least, 26 points. But as I mentioned, they have gotten better in recent weeks. They gave up only 40 points in the last two contests against a pair of first place teams in Baltimore and the New England Patriots.
Over the last three games, Cincinnati's run defense has given up just 113 yards a game.
The Ravens game included a season-low 14 points given up, the first game all season where Cincinnati's defense didn't allow a passing touchdown and just 223 yards passing, their second-lowest total of the season.
The Bengals had five takeaways in that game after having a total of just 10 over their first 11 games.
Cincinnati will be without their best pass rusher, Trey Hendrickson, who will miss a fourth-straight contest.
Defensive end Joseph Ossai leads the team in sacks with five, one ahead of Hendrickson.
Starting safeties Jordan Battle and Geno Stone are the top-two in tackles, and have combined for five interceptions.
Cornerback D.J. Turner III has been the best player on defense. His 16 passes defended leads the NFL.
One area the Bills should look to exploit is the Bengals' struggles defending tight ends. They are historically bad at that.
Opposing tight ends have combined for 86 catches, more than 1,000 yards and 13 touchdowns. The record for most touchdowns given up to tight ends in a single season is 17.
Hopefully the Bills can get Dalton Kincaid back in the lineup in time for Sunday's contest.
There are a couple of names to know about on special teams.
Punter Ryan Rehkow leads the league with an average of 52 yards a punt.
Meanwhile, kicker Evan McPherson is known as "Money Mac" in Cincinnati. He's connected on all 27 of his extra point attempts, and is 23-for-26 on field goal attempts. The three misses are all from beyond 50 yards.
McPherson has made his last 20 attempts inside 50 yards going back to last season.
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