In Buffalo on Sunday, the Cincinnati Bengals trounced the Buffalo Bills. The Bengals now punch their ticket to their second straight AFCCG. For the second year in a row, Joe Burrow and Patrick Mahomes will meet in the AFC Championship game.
Last year, it was the Bengals that got the best of the Chiefs in Arrowhead. Now, they’ll meet again. Burrow is 3-0 against the Chiefs in his career, and has a very good chance to make it 4-0 as the Bengals look unstoppable.
The divisional round game on Sunday was one sided the entire way. The Bills’ roster issues came to light as the run game never got going and the offensive line was below average all afternoon. Not only that, Burrow and the Bengals had their way with the Bills’ secondary.
Burrow threw for 242 yards and two touchdowns on 23/36 passing. Joe Mixon added 105 yards on the ground himself.
Cincy also played a disciplined game, not turning the ball over and getting called for just two penalties. They also won the time of possession battle as well.
Buffalo had a hard time defeating a Miami Dolphins team that was starting their third string quarterback, so struggling against Cincinnati was no surprise.
Joe Burrow has been a savior for the franchise, and it’s yet another example of how much a franchise quarterback can influence and change the entire trajectory of an organization. To a lesser extent as of now, Trevor Lawrence has done the same for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Buffalo also has an excellent quarterback in Josh Allen, but he will yet again fall short of trying to take his team to a Super Bowl. Allen now falls to 4-4 in the playoffs, while Burrow improves to a healthy 5-1.
The AFC is loaded with young quarterback talent. Somehow, Patrick Mahomes was the oldest QB in the AFC among the playoff teams.
As of now, it does look like Mahomes and Burrow are the unquestioned top two in the conference. The next tier should include guys like Allen and Lawrence.
Below them, we could include Justin Herbert and Lamar Jackson. The insane crop of quarterback talent in the AFC will keep the conference entertaining for years.