The best online betting sites favor the Baltimore Ravens by 1.5 points against the Cincinnati Bengals. As expected by the best online sportsbooks, the Ravens easily covered a 7.5-point cover by blowing out the Bills 43-7. That’s what you get for starting Nathan ‘Five Pick’ Peterman. ‘Skinny’ Joe Flacco went 25 for 34 for 236 yards. Joe Cool also threw TD passes to all three new Ravens wide receivers. Defensively, Baltimore had six sacks.
Meanwhile, the Bengals upset the Colts and covered as one-point road dogs. Andy Dalton went 21 of 28 with 243 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. However, the hero of the day (shoutout to Metallica) was safety Clayton Fejedelem. He recovered the ball from Indy tight end Jack Doyle. Fejedelem then proceeded to score an 83-yard touchdown to seal the deal. And he may not have even been in the game had starting safety Shawn Williams not bumped helmets with Andrew Luck.
Betting Baltimore
Flacco put on a clinic in the first half before turning the reins over to rookie Lamar Jackson. Joe Cool looks healthy as can be and seems poised to go out with a bang instead of a whimper. Following a 2017 season impaired by a back injury, Flacco is playing with a chip on his shoulder. As are his new receiving unit. Michael Crabtree, John Brown and Willie Snead IV got off to a tentative debut with the Ravens. However, they showed signs of bigger and better things to come.
Baltimore’s pass defense had pretty much nothing about which to worry. The Bills pretty much beat themselves by starting Peterman. And rookie Josh Allen couldn’t save the sinking ship. The Bills ground attack was more of a concern. However, the Ravens held running back LeSean McCoy to just 22 yards. Cornerback Tavon Young and linebackers Za’Darius Smith, Tim Williams and Terrell Suggs each had sacks. And cornerbacks Brandon Carr and Marlon Humphrey won their duels with the Bills receivers. In retrospective, the best online betting sites were too kind on Buffalo.
Betting Cincinnati
The Bengals’ win was hard-earned. Not least because Cincy is its own worst enemy. The Striped Ones committed eight penalties, including the hit that got Williams ejected. Which of course turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The Bengals managed, in spite of themselves, to come back from a 13-point deficit. Running back Joe Mixon had 95 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries. That included two carries for 15 yards on first and second down prior to A.J. Green’s 38-yard touchdown reception.
Defensively, Cincy held Indy to just 75 yards rushing and just 3.4 yards per carry. The pass defense, though, showed they’re far from perfect without Burfict. Vontaze served the first of his four-game suspension on Sunday. The Bengals defense allowed 319 passing yards.
Baltimore Ravens at Cincinnati Bengals Thursday Night Football Betting
- Date: September 13
- Time: 8:20 pm ET
- Venue: Paul Brown Stadium
Lines from Intertops.eu:
- Baltimore Ravens -1½ +105 o Ov 44 -110
- Cincinnati Bengals +1½ -125 o Un 44 -110
Betting Trends
- Baltimore is 4-2 ATS in its last 6 games
- Baltimore is 6-2 SU in its last 8 games
- The total has gone over in 9 of Baltimore’s last 13 games
- Cincinnati is 7-2 ATS in its last 9 games
- Cincinnati is 4-2 ATS in its last 6 games at home
- Cincinnati is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games at home
The consensus seems to be that the Ravens will win and cover the spread set by the best online betting sites. Albert Breer of the NFLNetwork predicts a Ravens 23-Bengals 17 scoreboard. Mike Florio of ProFootball Talk has it at Ravens 31-Bengals 24. And Pete Prisco foresees a Baltimore28-Cincinnati 24 score. And so on and so forth.
