NFL Betting Preview: Baltimore Ravens at Cincinnati Bengals

Added on Sep 18, 2010 by Jack Thurman in

NFL

Big weekend of NFL betting action as pro football enters its second week of the season. We’ll look at a key AFC North matchup between the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals. Ravens opened the season on Monday Night Football with a win over the New York Jets, while the Bengals were a loser on the road to New England. Baltimore is hoping that their recent streak of September success continues here–the Ravens are 6-1 SU/7-0 ATS in their last 7 September games.

Baltimore Ravens at Cincinnati Bengals
September 19, 2010–10:o0 AM Pacific

We talk about the importance of not overreacting to short term performances in sports handicapping, and its a theme we’ll return to again and again. It’s particularly important in the early part of the season in any sport, and especially so in the NFL. The disparate results of these teams in Week 1 have been overemphasized by the ‘public’ and factored into the line. As a result, we’re getting good line value on the home team in this matchup.

It’s never easy to win on the road in the NFL. Props to the Ravens for taking care of business against the Jets, but its an overreaction to downgrade the Bengals too much due to that loss at New England. Cincinnati is a 10-6 from last year that, if anything, got better in the off-season with the addition of Terrell Owens. ’T.O.’ is not a guy you want to count on in the longterm, but on a shortterm basis he’s a dangerous weapon. Throw in running back Cedric Benson and an experienced QB in Carson Palmer and that’s a pretty solid offense. The biggest issue the Ravens face on defense is their secondary–Palmer is good at getting rid of the ball quicker and should be able to pass downfield very effectively. Palmer threw for 345 yards and 2 TDs in the loss at New England in Week 1.

The Bengals were a pointspread freakshow a year ago–including the playoffs they were 0-8 ATS as a favorite, but an excellent play as an underdog going 7-2 ATS including 3-0 as a home dog. Ironically, the were a similar priced home dog to Baltimore last season and they won outright by 10. The Ravens are off a Monday night game and are traveling on a short week. For whatever reason, the Bengals seem to draw motivation from the underdog label and we’ll look for them to pull off the outright win here.

Bet Cincinnati Bengals +3 over Baltimore Ravens