The Cincinnati Bengals have one of the best wide receiver trios in the NFL, if not the best, with Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd.
The three prolific pass catchers had 205 receptions, 2,693 yards and 20 touchdowns. How the Buffalo Bills defense executes its game plan to slow them down could end up determining the outcome of Monday Night Football and potentially the no. 1 seed in the AFC.
What does Boyd think of the Bills defense?
“It’s a bit basic. They don’t do too many disguises – it’s pretty simple, they don’t do all the deceptive things that we’ve often seen defenses,” he told Cincinnati reporters outside his locker. But again man , they play us. Every team prepares differently for us. I mean, we prepare for everything. No matter how they want to play, we are ready for the exotic looks to the regular looks or (if) you want to try to hide the coverage, we are really ready for it.
The Bills’ defense has long been lauded for its ability to confuse opposing quarterbacks with the way it operates before the break. In 2019, Patriots coach Bill Belichick explained why Buffalo was so tough to play against and it started with All Pro safeties Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde.
“Sometimes they give the wrong keys and start one way and then another,” he said. So as a quarterback or a coach, even if you watch the game and you see something, and you think that’s what it is and your eyes go elsewhere, but then it starts in a meaning and then it goes somewhere else, and then you misread it. They do a good job in those areas, whether it’s blitzing, playing man coverage, playing different zone coverages and different zone responsibilities.
Hyde’s season ended in September when he suffered a neck injury that required surgery. There is some hope within the fanbase that the 31-year-old can return this season, but there are likely still plenty of hurdles he will have to overcome to make that dream a reality. With Hyde out, the Bills gave the job to second-year safety Damar Hamlin, who learned the job.
Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier said before last week’s game that he had noticed a significant jump for Hamlin in the previous three or four games.
“The biggest leap was his confidence in his ability to communicate,” he said. We’ve relied on Micah and Jordan for so long to communicate behind the scenes with the rest of our secondary linebackers and to help Tremaine. Well, by losing Micah, we lost some of that. And Jordan has been in and out of training at times. We needed Damar to verbally intervene, and he started to do so. It’s important for our pass defense and our run defense as well.
With Hyde out and Tre’Davious White still on the way back to All-Pro form, fans remember before he suffered a torn ACL in 2021, the Bills secondary struggled to generate turnover over the last two months. Buffalo’s defense’s only interception in its last six games was picked by backup Jaquan Johnson off a Nathan Peterman Hail Mary on the final play in the Bills’ 35-13 win over the Chicago Bears last week.
Boyd also gave his thoughts on the Bills’ secondary.
“I think they play well together but (they’re) not the best we’ve seen,” he said. But they are playing together and they are going to play hard because it is one of the most important games for both sides. We will definitely do their best. And I just feel like we can win in our games.
Boyd thinks the game is going to be a TV staple.
“I think it will be the game of the year,” he said. “If you miss this game then you’re not a real football viewer, or whatever you want to call it. I think it’s going to be electrifying and by far the best game of the year.
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