After spending the last several weeks playing at home, the Bengals will be back on the road to face the Bills on Sunday.
One of the biggest factors for Cincinnati will be who’s playing along the offensive line, as the Bengals have lost three starters to injury since Christmas Eve. But they will still have center Ted Karras, whose experience playing in the AFC East should come in handy for his team’s visit to Western New York.
Playing in a raucous environment, the Bengals will surely have to use a silent offensive snap count. With different players along the OL, that could be significant.
“Buffalo is one of the most interesting and hostile places to play as a visitor,” Karras said, via Geoff Hobson of the team’s website. “You drive through the tailgates and there are all sorts of colorful gestures your way. There might be some skin. Interesting things happen in the Buffalo parking lot.
“On the field, it’s very loud. That’ll be something we practice and respect. We haven’t gone silent [count] in a while. We’ll be back to the silent count and with a couple new guys in there we’ll have to really rep that this week.”
With Jackson Carman likely replacing Jonah Williams at left tackle for Sunday’s game, there’s an added level of communication that needs to happen with a rookie left guard in Cordell Volson. Volson has been playing all season long next to Karras and Williams, which is part of why Karras is confident the rookie can handle it.
“I told Cordell, we’re going to have to lean on you more than ever now to communicate and be able to express what you see with your tackle,” Karras said. “There’s a certain element of communication when a couple of guys are out, but we’re going to get it done.”
The Bengals haven’t lost since Halloween and have experienced going on the road and winning in the postseason to make it to the Super Bowl. But Sunday’s game in Buffalo should be a real test for Cincinnati’s five up front.