Back a healthy Joe Burrow leading the Bengals to victory vs the Bills

Since the start of the 2021 season, Joe Burrow has proven himself to be one of the most clutch players in the NFL. Some players have an intangible ability to empower their team and never falter in the big moments and the 26 year old Burrow is one of them.

On the other hand, the Buffalo Bills have played in their fair share of big games in the Josh Allen era. However, they’ve yet to advance to the AFC Championship Game and it’s been questioned whether too much is being put on Allen’s shoulders yearly.

When these teams meet in Week 9′s edition of Sunday Night Football, I expect Cincinnati to pull off the victory at home. The best odds for the Bengals’ moneyline are BetMGM at -125, where you can get $200 in bonus bets following the settlement of a $10 wager thanks to the BetMGM bonus code.

(Sunday, 8:20 p.m. ET, NBC)

For all the past accomplishments and failures I mentioned above with these AFC powerhouses, this season has been somewhat disappointing for both through eight weeks.

Cincinnati entered the year with Burrow playing hurt and it showed. They started 1-3 and Burrow was incredibly limited in his mobility. That’s changed in recent weeks, as the bye week two weeks ago helped Burrow get to full strength.

The Bengals beat the 49ers 31-17 in a statement win last week in a game that saw Burrow throw 28 for 32 for three touchdowns. Ja’Marr Chase was a non-factor at times earlier this season but has been a workhorse as of late.

We’ve seen multiple times even the Chiefs struggle with the Bengals when Burrow and Chase are healthy. With those two healthy, the run game can begin to get established once again. That all being said, Tee Higgins has had a disastrous season and they need him to round into form.

Defensively, they’ve held four of their last five opponents to under 20 points. This is a well coached unit that has continuity and health on their side. Trey Hendrickson has played outstanding and young players Dax Hill and Cam Taylor-Britt have made weekly growth in their development.

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Essentially, my pick in the Bengals boils down to them being a team on the rise while the Bills are a team collapsing. It’s been four straight weeks now where Buffalo hasn’t looked like themselves, and injuries are a huge part of it.

Tre’Davious White and Matt Milano are two of the most prolific Bills players of the last decade and are out for the season. DaQuan Jones was a fabulous run defender and is out for the year. Now they’re without tight end Dawson Knox, hurting their ability to run the two tight end set they’ve enjoyed running this year.

Those injuries have hurt their defense a lot. Von Miller hasn’t yet produced like the player he was before his second ACL tear either. Although they held the Giants and Buccaneers below 20 points recently, they made a mundane and bad offense in New England look fantastic two weeks ago.

Josh Allen has played like the MVP at times this year and Stefon Diggs remains an elite wide receiver. But they still don’t have a reliable second player to aid in the passing game, and James Cook has struggled to run the ball recently causing Buffalo to bring in Leonard Fournette.

In addition to Buffalo being a team falling while Cincinnati is rising, my pick in the Bengals comes down to one other thing. Buffalo’s best players are excellent. But Cincinnati has more good players than the Bills and I think that will show in this matchup.

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