NFL Football Betting: Buffalo Bills at Cincinnati Bengals
Another big pro football Sunday and we’ll take a look at ‘Canada’s NFL team’ the Buffalo Bills as they hit the road to take on the Cincinnati Bengals. Both teams are desperate for a win. The Bengals have been disappointing this year with a 3-5-1 record which leaves them in third place in the AFC North. They really can’t fall into last place with the 0-10 Cleveland Browns having taken up residence there. I guess it’s not *technically* impossible–the Browns could ‘run the table’ finishing 6-10 while the Bengals can stumble the rest of the way. It is, however, highly unlikely. Even with the ‘tie’ on their record the Bengals still have a shot at making the playoffs or even winning the tightly packed AFC North but they have to start winning games.
The Buffalo Bills are as enigmatic as any team in football. Buffalo lost their first two games, won their next four and have lost their last three. In some sports, a team can get away with this kind of streaky performance but not in the NFL which rewards consistency. The last two games have been particularly ugly. They lost 28-25 in overtime at Miami on 10/23 which is an ‘acceptable loss’ but since then they’ve lost 41-25 to New England and 31-25 at Seattle. Those aren’t completely inexcusable losses. After they beat the Patriots in their final game without Tom Brady everyone knew that ‘payback’ would be forthcoming. There’s also nothing especially terrible about losing by 6 at Seattle. The salient question now: where does this team go from here?
The Bengals have been a respectable pointspread team at home in recent years with a 10-6 ATS record off a 13-6 SU record. The Bills have been a great underdog and have been especially good after 2 or more consecutive losses–they’re 6-1 SU/6-0-1 ATS in that spot. They won and covered once already this year after two losses but this could be a case where an ‘angle’ is catching on with the general public and bookmakers over compensating. Cincinnati has been a home favorite of less than a field goal only 4 times in the past three years going 2-2 SU/ATS. Despite their solid play as an underdog overall the Bills are only 2-3 SU/ATS L3 years as a road underdog of 3 or less.
BET CINCINNATI BENGALS -2.5 OVER BUFFALO BILLS
