Buffalo Bills Defense 'Basic,' Not Elite, Claim Cocky Cincinnati Bengals

"Bragging rights''? The Cincinnati Bengals are in fact the defending AFC champs, with a Super Bowl appearance to prove it. So they do own conference bragging rights. And ahead of their MNF meeting with the Buffalo Bills? They are exercising those rights.

The Cincinnati Bengals are in fact the defending AFC champs, with a Super Bowl appearance to prove it. So they do own conference bragging rights.

And on the eve of their showcase ""Monday Night Football'' matchup against the Buffalo Bills?

They are fully utilizing those "bragging rights.''

“They’re a solid linebacker group, but they’re not the Ravens,” Bengals star running back Joe Mixon said, via The Athletic. “I mean, they’re good. They get paid, too. I’m not saying they’re not good. But they’re not the Ravens.”

Mixon's specific reference is to the Buffalo linebackers, who will have some of the primary responsibility of chasing down the perennial 1,000-yard back. 

Buffalo’s opinion of its linebackers, Matt Milano and Tremaine Edmunds, differs from that. Both are Pro Bowl alternates. 

Milano is one of the NFL's best playmakers; he's got 1.5 sacks, two interceptions, nine passes defensed, two fumble recoveries and a touchdown.

Edmunds is one of the NFL's surest and busiest tacklers. He leads Buffalo in that category (with 95) and has a sack and four passes defensed.

The "bulletin-board material'' issue is generally overplayed in the NFL. It gives us all something to talk about as we build up to the game as these two playoff-bound teams joust for the top spot in the AFC. But once the game begins, it becomes about blocking and tackling and running and throwing and the like.

Still, it's noteworthy that Bengals receiver Tyler Boyd referred to Buffalo’s defense as “kind of basic” just as Mixon suggested the unit is something short of elite ... all the while touting his own team's elite status.

“What people need to know and understand is we the big dog of the AFC,” Mixon said. “That’s just what it is. For anything to happen, it has to go through us.”

That is not true, standings-wise. Technically, the AFC "goes through'' the Bills (12-3) as of now. But the Bengals (11-4) could match Buffalo's record with a win while jumping into contention with the Bills and Kansas City Chiefs (12-3) for the No. 1 seed in the conference.

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