Cleveland Browns at Cincinnati Bengals Betting Pick
The Baltimore Ravens sat back like evil masterminds last week enjoying their bye week while two of the teams chasing them, Cincinnati and Cleveland, suffered losses sending them further down in the AFC North standings.
Granted, it’s not ideal that the Browns had to lose to a fellow divisional opponent in the Steelers, but either Cleveland or Cincinnati is going to continue their slide when the teams meet up as part of NFL week nine picks. Sportsbooks possibly could have had a tough time in setting this line, but BetOnline and BetUS are in unison in making the Bengals -2.5 favorites, fairly standard betting odds for a home team.
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Cleveland Doesn’t Look Right
Maybe we’d be talking about Cleveland in a different light heading into week 9 NFL picks if they would have been able to take advantage of one of the many changes they had to beat the Steelers last week. The Browns’ final two drives in the 4th quarter last week ended in Pittsburgh territory, and Cleveland came away with 0 points in the 15-10 win by Mike Tomlin’s crew.
WR Jarvis Landry looked especially disinterested/injured for the Browns last week with a couple of key drops as well as a fumble at the Pittsburgh 20 late in the 4th quarter. Odell Beckham, Jr. is a non-factor this season (2 catches or less in four of five), and Nick Chubb was held to 61 yards on 16 carries in his return from a calf injury.
The Browns offense has now been held to 17 points or less in four of their last five games, which makes totals betting on the 47 number for Sunday’s game look like a solid under play. Baker Mayfield had his moments last Sunday vs. Pittsburgh but ultimately ended up with an unspectacular line of 20/31 for 225 with 0/0.
What Happened to Cincinnati?
Both teams come into Sunday’s game off of a loss, but to the Browns’ credit, at least they lost to a tough divisional foe in the Steelers. The Bengals kind of burned all of the karma they had built with a 5-2 start to the season with a 34-31 loss to the Jets in week 8.
The Bengals offense gets somewhat of a pass after last week’s performance, considering they did put up 31 points which should be plenty to beat a team like the 2-5 Jets. Joe Burrow threw 3 TDs with 1 INT, but Cincinnati was held to just 41 yards rushing.
Cincinnati’s loss to New York came with the Bengals having betting odds of -11.5 favorites. Looking back, though, maybe that loss was a predictable one, and the Jets should have been hammered in moneyline betting. It was the third straight road game for Burrow and company, not to mention a sandwich game following a huge 41-17 win over Baltimore and with another divisional foe looming when Cleveland comes to town in week 9.
Browns at Bengals Betting Picks
The big question heading into this Sunday’s matchup at Paul Brown Stadium is which team has the bounce back? The obvious choice would be the Bengals, and the -2.5 betting odds look like a gift for Cincinnati backers.
The Bengals are back home after a three-game road trip (2-1), while the Browns have lost three of four overall. Cleveland’s offense has curled up into a ball, and meanwhile, the Bengals just finished a road stretch in which they put up 31+ points in all three games.
Pick: Bengals -2.5
