Bills at Bengals
The Buffalo Bills look to end a pair of losing streaks and get back into the wild-card race in the AFC when they visit the equally troubled Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. Buffalo has lost its last three meetings with Cincinnati as well as its last three contests overall, which has dropped it to third place in the AFC East.
The Bills, who are returning from a bye week that couldn't have come at a better time, have allowed at least 28 points in each of the defeats after yielding 19 or fewer during a four-game winning streak that preceded the skid. Cincinnati also is floundering, as it sits third in the AFC North after winning only one of its last five contests (1-3-1). Despite their struggles, the Bengals are just 1 1/2 games behind first-place Baltimore in the mediocre division and still have two meetings with the Ravens on their schedule - including a road matchup next week. Cincinnati, which was 8-1 at this point last season, received good news Thursday as Andy Dalton was a full participant in practice one day after being limited due to an issue with his shoulder.
TV: 1 p.m. ET, FOX. LINE: Bengals -2.5. O/U: 47.5
ABOUT THE BILLS (4-5): Tyrod Taylor leads all NFL quarterbacks with 362 yards on the ground and is the only signal-caller with at least 4,500 yards passing (4,804) and 900 rushing (930) since the start of 2015. Linebacker Lorenzo Alexander is tied for the league lead with 10 sacks while wide receiver Marquise Goodwin ranks fifth with an average of 18.8 yards per catch. The Bills are 16-11 in games following their bye week, but Rex Ryan is just 2-6 in such contests during his career as a head coach.
ABOUT THE BENGALS (3-5-1): Linebacker Rey Maualuga (fibula) also was a full participant in practice on Thursday after missing Monday's loss to the New York Giants. A run specialist, he would be a welcome addition to the lineup on Sunday as Buffalo ranks second in the league in rushing offense (155 yards). Jeremy Hill has scored three touchdowns on the ground in as many games and ranks second in the league since 2014 with 26 rushing scores.
EXTRA POINTS
1. The Bills have scored at least 25 points in each game during their three-game slide, tying them with this year's Green Bay team for the longest such losing streak in NFL history.
2. Cincinnati WR A.J. Green is second in the NFL with 964 receiving yards and third with 66 catches.
3. Buffalo signed James Ihedigbo, who last played with Detroit in 2015, and released fellow S Duke Williams.