The Cincinnati Bengals and Jacksonville Jaguars are putting all the chips on the table in this battle of the cats. The Bengals are coming off a disappointing road loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers that showed some holes in their new-look defense. That could be a problem because the Jaguars offense has been humming mostly through week three.
How do oddsmakers and experts see this playing out?
Cincinnati is currently a 2.5-point favorite at home, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. The standard spread based on even meetings of the teams is the home team getting a 3.5 point favor, so Jacksonville is clearly eating up the home-field advantage there.
The over/under is set at 51.5 points. Cincinnati has surpassed that mark twice in their season so far, but the Jaguars have yet to reach those heights. However, they got 35 and 34 points so far. That was one more than the Bengals’ 33 points against the Tampa Bay Bucs, their highest output of the season.
Clearly, this is expected to be a close game between two very good AFC teams with great quarterbacks leading them. Joe Burrow and Trevor Lawrence also met in the 2019 National Championship when Burrow and the LSU Tigers defeated Trevor Lawrence and the Clemson Tigers (another game between the big cats).
Jacksonville boasts a top-rated defense, giving up just 12 points per game, but when you’ve played the Cleveland Browns, Denver Broncos, and New England Patriots, it really doesn’t compare to an offense like Cincinnati’s. However, you could say the same about Cincinnati’s defense, as none of the offenses they faced exactly set the world on fire.
This game will probably come down to turnovers and the little things like penalties. That second one has hurt this team so far. However, coming home after a humbling loss could be good for this team. The Bengals defense got to Lawrence just enough to pull out a win against the Jaguars
Final Score: Bengals 38, Jaguars 34
Now, send us your game predictions in the comments section!