By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Bengals need to be ready to experience a whole lot of deja vu Sunday at Buffalo.

A lot of familiar faces will be wearing Bills blue, and the Buffalo offense might turn back the clock to the early 1990s.

With their offense struggling for seven quarters, the Bills went to the no-huddle offense in the fourth quarter last week, and it helped to produce a pair of touchdowns.

Back when quarterback Jim Kelly was leading the Bills to four consecutive Super Bowl berths, the no-huddle offense was their base attack. And although no such switch is in their plans, the Bills are likely to use it Sunday. Quarterback Drew Bledsoe has shown the ability to run the no-huddle.

The ingredients are there: running backs who can catch passes, versatile wide receivers, and fast, athletic offensive linemen.

The Bills ran seven no-huddle plays in two fourth-quarter touchdown drives against the Eagles. Bledsoe was 3-for-5 passing for 41 yards. He was sacked on another no-huddle play, and running back Joe Burns had a 7-yard run.

"Throughout my career, there have been times when we've used the no-huddle to change the tempo of the game," Bledsoe told Buffalo reporters.

The Bills offense averaged 31 points in blowout victories over New England and Jacksonville but has managed 13 total points in the last two games.

EMOTIONAL RESCUE: Coaches Dick LeBeau and Tim Krumrie and linebacker Takeo Spikes are highly regarded by many Bengals players.

All are now with the Bills - LeBeau as assistant head coach and Krumrie as defensive line coach.

But the epicenter of the emotion Sunday will be Spikes, the heart of the Bengals for the previous five seasons. The Bengals cannot be distracted Sunday by Spikes' presence on the field, and he will be more ready than usual.

Quarterback Jon Kitna said he and his teammates respect Spikes, but given that, even his best friends on the team won't hold back if they get a clean shot at him.

Nor will the former Cincinnati captain hold back. He'll probably give them "a little extra," as is his modus operandi.

TURNOVERS: One of the reasons the Bengals looked good in their 21-14 victory last week at Cleveland was the absence of turnovers. The Bengals committed none, and they had one interception on defense.

In going 9-27 since the start of 2001, the Bengals are plus-8 in turnover ratio in their victories and minus-18 in the losses.

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E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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