Bills vs Bengals: Top 5 Things We Learned From Buffalo's 23-20 Loss

If the Buffalo Bills were living a charmed life during the first three weeks of the 2011 season, that is no longer the case, after the Bills lost their first game of the year to the Cincinnati Bengals, 23-20.

The Bills are the final AFC team to lose a game this season, so now they will have to regroup, as they face a stiff test next Sunday when they host Michael Vick and the Philadelphia Eagles.

We will review the Bills game against the Bengals and come up with the top five things we learned from this game.

The Bills Didn't Get Any Help from Referee Today

The Buffalo Bills thought they had scored a touchdown in the first half today when Bryan Scott picked up a fumble by quarterback Andy Dalton. Dalton had been sacked on the play when Shawne Merriman and Marcell Dareus met at Dalton, and were able to knock the ball away from him. An alert Scott picked up the ball and went into the end zone for a touchdown.

The referee then went under the hood to check instant replay, and for some strange reason they decided to evoke the "Tuck Rule" and say that there was no fumble.

Dalton had attempted to do a pump fake, and his arm had completed the motion. There was no other arm motion or action, so while his arm was still, the Bills should have been allowed to strip the ball away from Dalton. Since the Bills lost to three points, it is a huge turning point in the game.

The Bills need a break or two usually to keep them competitive in games, because their overall talent level isn't there with the majority of the NFL. In a year or two that will be a different story, but not right now.

Bills Abondoned Running the Ball on First Down

Even though the Bills had the lead for the majority of the game, they stopped becoming a balanced offense today in the second half.

At one point, early in the second half, the Bills had executed seven runs and seven passes on first-down plays throughout the game. Then, from that point on, the Bills forgot all about the run and proceeded to call for a pass play on the final eight first-down plays of the game.

The lack of calling for any runs on first downs let the Bengals defense continue to put pressure on Fitzpatrick. They didn't call any draws and put the ball in the hands of one of their best weapons, Fred Jackson. When Chan Gailey goes back and reviews the tape, I think he will be disappointed to see how few runs they attempted in the fourth quarter.

Bills Distribution on Offense Seemed Strange Today

Not sure what exactly was going on with the Bills' game plan or ability to distribute the ball evenly to their weapons. Ryan Fitzpatrick targeted Fred Jackson and Donald Jones (eight times each), Steve Johnson (six targets), Brad Smith (four targets), David Nelson (three targets), Scott Chandler (two targets) and Namaan Roosevelt and C.J. Spiller (one target each).

David Nelson, who was such a huge part of the offense last week, was basically ignored today. Fitzpatrick looked at Jones for eight passes, but only came up with three completions. That is an issue.

The Bills averaged 4.0 yards per rush, which is fine, but they were having far too many three-and-out drives, as they had six total three-and-outs. That is just putting too much pressure on the defense, and by the end of the second half, they were worn out.

Bills Defense Got Winded: Bills Outgained 458-273

The Bills were only able to convert four of 14 third-down opportunities today. That was as much of an issue as anything. When the Bills had to keep walking off of the field, they were placing more pressure on the defense to create a turnover or make the Bengals punt.

It would be one thing if the Bills could have generated one or two first downs to help out with field position, but it appeared that Andy Dalton outplayed Ryan Fitzpatrick today.

The Bills did sack Dalton twice, and the Bengals only sacked Fitzpatrick once. The Bengals quarterback threw two interceptions for the game, and the Bills did not turn the ball over once. It hurts to win the turnover battle and still lose. But with the way that the Bengals drove the ball in the second half, they came out and appeared to be the hungrier team.

Did the Bills Take the Bengals Too Lightly?

There were plenty of articles going around in the media this past week that this game against the Bengals represented a trap game. The Bills were sky-high after their three consecutive wins to start the season, and they were the owners of a 10-game winning streak over the Bengals. So if there was one team they were allowed to look past, it would be the Bengals, right?

Well, nothing could have been further from the truth. The Bengals played the way that the Bills played in the second half of Week 2 and Week 3, when they showed with some momentum and some confidence how you can come back in the second half to win.

This was a hard lesson for the Bills to learn, but one game they needed to learn from. The offense has to do a better job of staying out there on the field. If they turn in more efforts like this one tonight, they can expect similar results later in the year.

Did the Bills Play to Tie or to Win?

With a touchdown lead and the ball around midfield, the Bills were facing 2nd-and-1, after picking up nine yards on first down. There were about nine or 10 minutes left to go in the game, and the Bills had a chance to gain a first down and take off some considerable time from the clock.

The Bills wound up going three-and-out and punted the ball on 4th-and-1. Whether it was not being able to get the necessary yard on second down or third down, or the unwillingness to go for it on fourth down (playing to win), the Bills took the conservative approach and are now 3-1.

Bills fans and the team will lament the bad call against Bryan Scott, but this game boiled down to the fact that the Bengals outplayed the Bills, outgained them, and wanted this game worse than the Bills did. If you did not see the replay, here is the video link for the first Bryan Scott touchdown.

Let's hope that this game served as a wake up call. I will be there next Sunday to see the Bills play the Philadelphia Eagles game live, so I will return in two weeks for my observations of the Bills versus the New York Giants.