After a less-than-stellar win in Week 1, Jason Ence expects the Bengals to bring their A-game in Week 2 and cover the spread.
Photo By – Imagn Images. Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) throws during the second half.
The Jacksonville Jaguars hope to start 2-0 in the Liam Coen era when they travel to Cincinnati to face the Bengals on Sunday afternoon.
Coen picked up the first win of his NFL head coaching career with a win over the Panthers. But he will face a much tougher challenge in his first road jaunt against a Bengals team that narrowly defeated their rivals up north.
See what we’re backing in our early Jaguars vs. Bengals predictions and NFL picks on Sunday, September 14.
Jaguars vs Bengals predictions
Here are our early thoughts on the spread and total for this week’s game. We will have a full game preview (with a best bet and SGP) later in the week.
Early Jaguars vs Bengals spread pick: Bengals -3.5
-106 at FanDuel
In their win over Carolina, the Jacksonville Jaguars protected Trevor Lawrence, turned the ball over once, and ran for 200 yards. And managed just two touchdowns.
One of those came after a short field, going 35 yards to take a 10-3 lead. The other came late in the first half, after a 71-yard run by Travis Etienne put them into scoring position.
But an opening drive of 13 plays for 55 yards, and another of 15 plays for 49 yards, both led to field goals. Cam Little banged four through on the day, as Jacksonville managed just six points after halftime against a poor Panthers’ defense.
That won’t get the job done against the Cincinnati Bengals. Jacksonville allowed Lawrence to be hit just one time, but Trey Hendrickson had three hits and a sack by himself against the Browns. Joe Flacco was sacked five times, behind an offensive line that isn’t any worse than Jacksonville’s unit.
The Bengals had just seven yards in the second half. Jacksonville’s defense isn’t going to repeat that performance by the Browns. Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins will be a matchup nightmare, and Joe Burrow is miles ahead of Bryce Young.
Jacksonville got away with committing 11 penalties, a concerning trend that carried over from the preseason. If the offense can’t put together clean scoring drives that result in touchdowns, the Bengals will easily cover.
Early Jaguars vs Bengals total pick: Under 49.5
-105 at FanDuel
Cincinnati held the Browns to just 16 points, surrendering just two touchdowns and three scoring drives in total. The Bengals also came away with two turnovers, helping offset Cleveland’s 9-for-16 on third down.
It won’t shock me to see a similar situation against the Jaguars. Liam Coen got a solid rushing performance from his team, but repeating that against the Bengals won’t be easy. They limited Cleveland to just 49 yards on 24 attempts.
And if they can’t, it will be problematic for Lawrence. Jacksonville won’t be able to protect him the way it did against the anemic Panther pass rush, and an already penalty-prone line will likely commit more drive-stalling errors.
I don’t see Cincinnati being limited to 17 points in this one, either. Carolina had receivers who got open against the Jaguars, but didn’t get the ball either due to poor throws by Young or him simply missing them.
If Jacksonville allows Cincinnati’s talented receivers that kind of space, Burrow will find them. And if the Bengals get out to a large enough lead, the Jaguars will be forced to abandon the run, which will limit their scoring output even further.
I’m leaning Under here. I’d like another point or two with which to operate, simply because I don’t trust that Jacksonville won’t allow close to 30 by themselves, so I’ll wait to see what I can get later in the week.
Jaguars vs Bengals odds
- Jaguars vs. Bengals spread: Bengals -5.5
- Jaguars vs. Bengals moneyline: Jaguars +207, Bengals -242
- Jaguars vs. Bengals Over/Under: 49.5
How to watch Jaguars vs Bengals
Odds are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change.
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