Bengals Broncos Line

Written by Steve Janus

The Denver Broncos will look to avoid starting the season 0-2 at home when they host the Cincinnati Bengals this Sunday. Denver opened the 2011 season with a 20-23 loss at home to the Oakland Raiders on Monday Night Football. The Bengals started out with an impressive 27-17 win at Cleveland, despite losing rookie quarterback Andy Dalton in the first half. The Broncos have won two straight in the series, the last being a 12-7 win at Cincinnati in 2009.

Taking a look at the week 2 NFL odds, the oddsmakers have the Broncos favored by 3.5-points over the Bengals with the total set at 40 points.

Cincinnati Bengals:

The Bengals opened up a 13-0 lead on the Browns behind Dalton and the offense, but they would go into the fourth quarter trailing 13-17. Luckily the Browns fell a sleep defensively, which allowed backup quarterback Bruce Gradkowski to hit A.J. Green on a wide open 41-yard touchdown pass. Cedric Benson would secure the win with a 39-year touchdown run with less than 2 minutes to go.

Dalton went 10 of 15 for 81 yards, while Gradkowski hit just 5 of 12 for 92. Dalton has practice and is expected to be back in the starting lineup against the Broncos. I was impressed with the rookie in his first game, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he struggles at Denver coming off that injury.

Benson’s late touchdown run gave him 121 yards for the game. That is the type of performance the Bengals need to continue to win games, as they aren’t going to beat teams by throwing the ball on every down.

Tight End Jermaine Gresham led the team with six catches for 58 yards and a score, while Jerome Simpson was next in line with four catches for 44 yards. Green’s touchdown grab was his only catch of the game.

Defensively the Bengals played a very solid game. They held Peyton Hillis and the Browns rushing attack to just 83 yards, and held second-year quarterback Colt McCoy to just 213 yards on 19 of 40 passing.

Denver Broncos:

The Broncos opening week loss to the Raiders has fans all over head coach John Fox to replace starting quarterback Kyle Orton with backup Tim Tebow. Fox continues to back Orton, but they better start winning games.

Orton threw for 304 yards and a touchdown, but had a costly interception at the end of the first half and fumbled late on a drive where Denver looked poised to at least tie with a field goal.

Fans should lay off Orton and start pointing the finger at how bad their offensive line played in that game. The Raiders front four dominated from start to finish. Orton rarely had time to throw the ball and the Broncos managed just 38 yards on the ground.

The Broncos run defense wasn’t much better than a year ago in the opener. They allowed Darren McFadden to rush for 150 yards and the Raiders as a team went for 190 yards. They did hold Jason Campbell to 105 yards passing, but if they continue to fail against the run they will continue to lose football games.

Betting Trends:

Cincinnati is 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games in September, but just 1-4 ATS in their last 5 road games vs. a team with a losing home record.

Denver is 10-4-2 ATS in their last 16 games in Week 2, but only 8-27-1 ATS in their last 36 games as a favorite.

If you are looking for an edge against the odds in week 2, be sure to stop back and see who Steve Janus has going in his premium NFL packages.

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