Cincinnati Bengals vs. Buffalo Bills – NFL Divisional Playoffs Open Thread

Browns fans can use this to discuss the game.

The Bills and Bengals are underway, and Cincinnati is already off to a hot start, up 14-0 in the opening quarter! Use this as your open thread; the Bills will need to rally for my prediction for the game to come true:

Here we go again — these two teams will forever be linked by the scary situation that cancelled the late-season regular season match-up between these two teams. Thankfully, the situation seems to be turning into more of a feel-good story (knock on wood), and these two teams can focus on football again.

I think it’s fair to say that the Bills and Bengals both underachieved last week, as they should’ve been able to put away teams with backup quarterbacks far sooner than they did. There is less margin for error against teams at full strength, so maybe they’ll be focused on their A-games. I haven’t picked an upset in these playoffs yet, and I was really wanting to pick Cincinnati here to re-live their magical run from a year ago. However, I just can’t overlook the fact that they’ve lost three starting offensive linemen in recent weeks. If Buffalo plays it right, that should prevent Cincinnati from being able to go toe-to-toe in a shootout. Bills 24, Bengals 20.

Here are the staff picks for the game: