The Cincinnati Bengals improved to 2-3 with their 20-16 win over the Buffalo Bills at Paul Brown Stadium on Sunday.
Out-dueling Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor, Cincinnati's Andy Dalton completed 22 of 36 passes for 328 yards and one touchdown against two interceptions. Responsible for Dalton's only score, Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green brought in seven receptions for 189 yards, including a 77-yard touchdown in first quarter.
Bengals rookie running back Joe Mixon also had himself a day, as the former second-round pick led the team with 51 rushing yards and recorded his first career touchdown.
Conversely, Bills running back LeSean McCoy amassed just 63 rushing yards on 19 attempts (3.3 yards per carry).
With that, we give you our PFF exclusive takeaways from the contest for each team.
Top 5 Grades:
LB Vontaze Burfict, 87.7 overall grade
QB Andy Dalton, 84.3 overall grade
DI Geno Atkins, 84.0 overall grade
ED Carl Lawson, 80.8 overall grade
OT Jake Fisher, 80.6 overall grade
Performances of Note:
QB Andy Dalton, 84.3 overall grade
Dalton finished the day with just a 77.1 passer rating but if it were not for some costly drops that number would be a good deal higher. The Bengals signal caller was excellent this week when Buffalo decided to blitz, completing six of eight passes for 102 of his 328 passing yards, giving him a 116.7 passer rating when the Bills decided to rush more than four guys.
WR A.J. Green, 72.0 overall grade
Green hauled in 7 of 13 targets for 189 yards and a touchdown, including three of six targets for 131 yards and a touchdown against rookie Tre'Davious White. His grade took a couple of big hits though with a drop that ended up bouncing right into Jordan Poyer's arms and a fumble after he made a nice catch over the middle.
LB Vontaze Burfict, 87.7 overall grade
Burfict showed off a variety of attributes against the Bills this weekend: He rushed the QB one time and got a sack on the play, he led his team with both nine tackles and a whopping seven stops, played good run defense (81.1 run defense grade) and broke up a pass in coverage.
ED Carl Lawson, 80.8 overall grade
Lawson was in on 26 snaps in Week 5, he got to do what he does best – rush the QB – on 24 of those snaps, tallying three pressures (two sacks and a hit). Lawson is up to 25 pressures for the season now and his 16.5 pass rush productivity rating (PRP measures pressure created on a per snap basis, weighted towards sacks) ranks second among 3-4 outside linebackers (for the season) at the conclusion of Week 5's one o'clock games.
Top 5 Grades:
ED Jerry Hughes, 90.7 overall grade
LB Matt Milano, 86.5 overall grade
S Micah Hyde, 85.9 overall grade
S Jordan Poyer, 82.1 overall grade
ED Lorenzo Alexander, 81.2 overall grade
Performances of Note:
QB Tyrod Taylor, 75.7 overall grade
Pretty pedestrian game for the Bills QB, who attempted just 10 passes that traveled further than 10 yards down the field in the air. Taylor was most efficient when throwing between 0 and 9 yards and between the numbers, as he attempted nine throws to that area of the field and completed eight of them for 69 of his 166 passing yards.
OT Dion Dawkins, 42.4 overall grade
Following a strong Week 4 performance (83.7 overall grade), Dawkins' third career start was not quite up to that same level. Dawkins allowed three pressures on the afternoon (two sacks and a hit) to go with just a 38.2 run blocking grade, a steep decline from the elite 92.0 run blocking grade he posted against Atlanta.
ED Jerry Hughes, 90.7 overall grade
Hughes was sensational in Week 5, earning high marks as both a pass rusher (84.5 pass rushing grade) and in run defense (95.7 run defense grade). The veteran out of TCU tallied six total pressures on 30 pass rush snaps (four hurries and two hits) and all four of his tackles constituted as stops (a stop is a solo tackle that results in a “loss” to the offense given the situation).
LB Matt Milano, 86.5 overall grade
Making his first ever start after seeing his first NFL action last week, Milano filled in admirably this week for the injured Ramon Humber. Milano had two stops in run defense against the Bengals and his 87.0 run defense grade trailed only Hughes for the team lead this weekend.
PFF Game Ball: Jerry Hughes, edge defender
*Grades are subject to change upon review
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