Had he not been traded to Buffalo two months ago, Bills running back Nyheim Hines knows exactly where he would have been on Monday night.
Hynes would be glued to his TV watching the first of what could be many-more-to-come duels between two of the NFL’s rising star quarterbacks in Buffalo’s Josh Allen and Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow.
“Absolutely,” Hines said. “Allen versus Burrow, two great quarterbacks, top five in my league and I could even say higher for either guy, it’s definitely something the world is watching and something that as a football fan like myself is excited to see.”
Hynes will not only enjoy a ringside seat for a late-season showdown that will go far in determining who finishes first in the AFC, he also has some inside perspective on both quarterbacks.
“Probably how he was in high school is probably how he is now, very calm,” Hines said of Burrow, whom he played with in the All-American high school game in California in January 2015.
“He was kind of like my head coach, Frank Reich,” he added , referring to his former coach in Indianapolis, who was fired after Hines was dealt to Buffalo. “Very stoic. Cold-blooded. Never panics. I see Joe the same way.”
Hines’ respect for Allen has grown tremendously since joining the Bills.
“By any means necessary. If it’s third-and-10, he’s gonna jump in the air, put his body on the line to get that first down,” he said. “And then one thing that people don’t realize about him is how smart he is. ... I knew of his playmaking ability, but his playmaking ability overshadows his brain.”
Allen has the Bills (12-3) holding the inside track to finishing first in the conference, and having already clinched their third straight AFC East title — their best run since a four-year stretch spanning 1988-91. The fifth-year player ranks fourth in the league with 4,029 yards passing and third with 32 TDs passing entering Week 17.
Burrow has the Bengals (11-4) a win or tie away from clinching their second consecutive AFC North title — something they’ve not done since winning consecutive AFC Central titles in 1981 and ’82. And the third-year player ranks second in the NFL in both yards passing (4,260) and TDs passing (34) entering Week 17.
Together, since the start of the 2021 season, they’re tied for second with 68 touchdown passes, trailing only Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes (’74) entering Week 17.
“I can’t wait to watch,” said Ryan Fitzpatrick, the ex-journeyman quarterback who played for both Buffalo and Cincinnati and now works as an analyst for Amazon Prime on “Thursday Night Football.”
