Welcome to Week 2 of the NFL season, sports betting amigos. Sunday's card looks packed with plenty of exciting matchups. I've found some betting value on Sunday afternoon's Jaguars vs. Bengals game, which kicks off at 1:00 PM Eastern Time on CBS.
I've dialed into this matchup from every angle and came up with an early best bet with the hopes of helping you grow your bankroll. Good luck and enjoy the game! Let's put Sunday in the win column, folks.
Online sportsbooks opened this line at Cincinnati -5.5 on the look-ahead line. There has been a rather large appetite for Jacksonville, as most sportsbooks now list this line at Cincinnati -3.5 at even money or -3 with some juice as of Wednesday morning. That's a large move down after only one week of play.
As for the game total, the movement hasn't been as severe on that front. The line opened at 49.5, and almost every sportsbook in the US is now dealing 48.5 after a touch of Under money showed up. This move isn't all that shocking, especially since Unders dominated the Week 1 slate of NFL games.
The Jaguars exceeded expectations in Week 1, as they smoked the Panthers to the tune of 26-10. The key to Jacksonville's success was its running game, as Travis Ettienne racked up 143 rushing yards on 16 carries. It'll be interesting to see if the Jags can get that same type of push with their offensive line again this week, especially since Cincy's defensive line looks like it could improve a bit this season.
Jacksonville's defense also came to play last Sunday, as they gave up an early field goal but then clamped down hard on Carolina. The Jags didn't allow a touchdown until garbage time, and they caused three turnovers to give their offense short fields.
It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows for the Jags, though. They committed 11 penalties and allowed Carolina to convert 8 of their 15 third downs. Those two areas will have to be corrected if they hope to pull off the upset on the road against the Bengals on Sunday.
Zac Taylor talked all preseason about getting off to a hot start on offense. The talk was nice, but it didn't come to fruition between the lines in Week 1. Cincinnati beat a bad Cleveland team 17-16, but it was the exact definition of the word ugly. That being said, a win is a win.
Bengals star running back Chase Brown scored an early touchdown, but he was pretty quiet the rest of the afternoon (just 43 rushing yards on 21 carries). To make matters worse, Joe Burrow was just 14 of 23 for a paltry 113 yards. Cincy fans can only hope and pray those stat lines improve in Week 2 against this Jags defense.
This is a fantastic buy-low spot on the Bengals, who won outright but looked terrible against the Browns in Week 1. The look-ahead line for this game was Cincy -5.5 just a few days ago, so that screams value on Zac Taylor's bunch in Week 2.
On the flip side, this is a great opportunity to sell the Jags at a high. Sure, they beat a very bad Carolina team by 16 points last week, but does that really tell us anything? Even in the win, Trevor Lawrence didn't look all that great (178 pass yds, 1 TD, 1 INT).
Look for Joe Burrow to iron some things out with Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Chase Brown in this one. Who Dey?
Prediction: Bengals 27- Jaguars 21