Buffalo Bills CB Christian Benford is no longer underrated, he's becoming one of the best cornerbacks in NFL

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (WKBW) — For years, Christian Benford has been referenced as one of the most underrated players in the NFL. With another huge game on Sunday, calling Benford underrated seems like a stretch; he’s become one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL.

When the Bills needed a play on Sunday, Benford delivered. He followed up his NFL Defensive Player of the Week performance against Pittsburgh with maybe an even more impressive game. Benford read Joe Burrow perfectly, jumping in front of a screen pass intended for Ja’Marr Chase, and returning it 63 yards for a touchdown. In the blink of an eye, a three-point deficit with five and a half minutes left became a four-point lead.

“I low-key was expecting to run, so I was expecting to tackle, but I saw him like crank back, look for like the throw. And I wasn't supposed to jump. Like the technique is don't leave your feet,” Benford said with a smile. “I don't know. God just gave me something for me to leave my feet, you know what I'm saying? Then the rest was history.”

“Big time moment in the game, and that's, that's this time of year, right?” head coach Sean McDermott said. “You're looking for moments, guys doing their job, and when you do your job, good things happen. And that's what we saw happen. So it was a phenomenal play, phenomenal call. Again, it's great to see.”

Benford has ascended for the last month and doesn’t appear to be slowing down. After a relatively slow start to the season, Benford has been a solid contributor on a defense that has needed someone to step up. Benford is on the short list.

“He's like a silent assassin, you know what I mean?” linebacker Shaq Thompson said. “He doesn't say much, but you know when it's time to go, he's gonna be the one to make the play.”

“It's fun to see your brother who works extremely hard, a guy that's as humble as they come, a guy that just does his job, and he can make plays for your team in big moments of the game,” quarterback Josh Allen said. “It's so awesome. He deserves every bit of it. But yeah,I mean that was a good turning point of the game, but at the same time, it was like this game's not over.”

Allen was right, the game wasn’t over, and yet again the defense made a big play. On the Bengals' next offensive snap, Jordan Phillips tipped a Burrow pass at the line of scrimmage, and AJ Epenesa was able to intercept the pass.

“Listen,we're not where we want to be, but winning games this time of year is huge,” McDermott added. “And the way we're doing it is really good. There's really good fabric around that.”

Does the Bills' defense need to be better? Absolutely. But to their credit, when their team needed them to step up, they did, with two huge plays.