One of the most anticipated games of the 2023 NFL season will take place Sunday night in Cincinnati, where the Bengals will face the Buffalo Bills in a rematch of the AFC Divisional playoff game from 2022.
The Bengals won that day, and it wasn’t close: a 27-10 thrashing in the snow at Buffalo’s Highmark Stadium. The loss left a sour taste in the locker room, as a 13-win team was dumped before the conference championship game. One Bengals player recalls what was said following that playoff game, and he believes Cincinnati will be up to the task again.
“We’re here now”
In an interview with the media on Thursday, receiver Tyler Boyd disputed the claim that the Bills would have defeated the Bengals in January if the weather had been better – and dared them to try it again this time, in a potentially pivotal regular season matchup.
“A couple of their players were saying that if it wasn’t snowing, they would have beaten us,” Boyd went on to say. “We’re here now.”
Following a slow start to the 2023 season, the Bengals have looked more like themselves in recent weeks. Cincinnati has won three straight games and defeated the San Francisco 49ers last weekend at Levi’s Stadium, with quarterback Joe Burrow throwing nearly as many touchdowns (three) as incompletions (four).
Meanwhile, the Bills are a 2.5-point underdog going into the game. Since pounding the Miami Dolphins in Week 4, Buffalo has alternated wins and losses, and a win against another high-level opponent would be a serious demonstration of their playoff credentials heading into the second half of the season.
On the final “Monday Night Football” broadcast of the 2022 season, safety Damar Hamlin collapsed and went into cardiac arrest at Paul Brown Stadium in January. Hamlin has appeared in one game this season and is not afraid to return to Cincinnati, where his life was forever altered.
“I think it’s gonna be super electric, and I think it’s gonna be nothing but love,” Hamlin told teammate Von Miller on “The Voncast” this week. “I’m pretty sure it’ll be a jumble of memories that will make it emotional for me, but I’m not running away from it.” “I’m prepared to walk through fire.”
