Raiders Bengals Odds
Posted by Steve Janus - Google+
On Sunday the Oakland Raider visit the Cincinnati Bengals. The Raiders are just looking to get a win, while the Bengals are looking to catch the Steelers for a possible wild card spot. The Raiders are coming off 3 straight losses to Tampa Bay (32-42), Baltimore (20-55) and New Orleans (17-38). The Bengals are coming of 2 big wins as they beat the Giants (31-13) and the Chiefs (28-6). Their chances of catching the Steelers got a lot better, as they will start their 3rd string QB Charlie Batch on Sunday @ Cleveland.
Reasons why Oakland should cover this game:
Carson Palmer is a huge reason the Raiders should win this game. He has been putting the ball up a lot this year, 45-50 times a game for 300+ yards a game. His high output was 3 weeks ago against Tampa Bay when he went 40-62 for 402 yards.
The Raiders have been playing recently without star running back Darren McFadden and there is a possibility that they get him back this week.
In his absence Marcel Reece has toted the ball like a vet RB even though he is a full back. Reece is more of a catching “running back” rather than running the ball. Last week against the Saints he has 19 carries for 103 yards plus 4 receptions for 90 yards. Those are great numbers. Against Baltimore, his first start at RB, he had 13 carries for 48 yards and 7 receptions for 56 yards.
Cincinnati has been a semi-poor team against the run so that could benefit the Raiders. The defense is going to have to play lights out though as the Raiders put up decent points, but can’t hang with their opponent because the defense can’t stop anyone. The good thing here is the Bengals are just a decent offense! If the Raiders D can play a good game, run the ball well and Palmer doesn’t throw multiple interceptions, they should be able to pull off the upset here.
Reasons why Cincinnati should cover this game:
Cincinnati is looking for a big win as they are 1 game behind a battered Steelers team for a chance to get the wild card birth.
Cincinnati has won 5 games this season behind start WR A.J. Green and some new guys filling in nicely. Andrew Hawkins has been a great addition to the WR’s for the Bengals.
The big addition in the offseason was BenJarvus Green-Ellis, but he hasn’t been the touchdown machine they thought they got from New England. He has 638 yards which is a good amount for him, but has just 4 touchdowns when he is accustom to double digit touchdowns.
The big reason for that is A.J. Green who has 10 touchdowns this season with 7 of them coming in the red-zone and 4 of them inside the opponents 10 yard line.
The Bengals have a pretty good passing defense and their going to have to play like a great one come Sunday. Their going to have to shut down Carson Palmer, Denarius Moore, Brandon Myers and Darrius Heyward-Bey. Brandon Myers leads the team in receptions with 50 and has come on strong in the last 3 weeks scoring 3 touchdowns inside the opponents 10 yard line. Those are his only touchdowns of the season.
The Bengals should win this game if Green-Ellis can get some yards to take the pressure off of Dalton, who should throw A.J. Green’s way a ton. If they can keep the Raiders defense off balanced, this could be an easy win.
Right now the line is set at the Bengals -8 and the over/under is at 49 points
Leave a Reply