Cincinnati Bengals at New York Jets Line

Written by Jack Jones

The Cincinnati Bengals and New York Jets will be playing in a rematch of last year’s AFC Wild Card round. When this one was penciled in on the schedule, many felt it would be one of the biggest games of the season. Instead, it’s only meaningful for one team. That’s because the 2-8 Bengals have lost seven straight games and are out of the playoff hunt. Meanwhile, the Jets are at 8-2 and tied for the NFL’s best record. NFL odds for this contest show us a line of Jets -8.5 over Bengals with a total set of 44 points.

This game for the Jets will be their second home game at New Meadowlands Stadium in five days. New York is coming off a 30-27 home victory over the Houston Texans, their third straight victory in dramatic fashion. The Jets are tied with the Patriots atop the AFC East, but hold the tie-breaker advantage due to their victory over New England back in September. The Patriots will play Detroit earlier in the day, and after this game both them and the Jets will have a few extra days to prepare for their huge Monday night showdown the following week.

The Jets have certainly had their flaws here of late, but when they need to make a play they have always come up with one. Mark Sanchez found Santonio Holmes for a 6-yard touchdown pass with only a few seconds remaining to give them yet another come-from-behind victory over the Texans. It was the third straight week he has found Holmes in a critical moment. Holmes also had the game-winning touchdown reception in their 26-20 win at Cleveland the previous week, and had a big catch to set up the game-winning field goal in overtime in a 23-20 victory over Detroit three weeks ago. Sanchez is playing amazing in the fourth quarter and overtime, but he and his teammates need to play a full 60 minutes.

The Cincinnati Bengals blew a 28-7 lead to the Buffalo Bills last Sunday, and not only did they lose they ended up getting blown out 49-31. So Buffalo outscored the hapless Bengals 42-3 the rest of the way behind 35 unanswered points in the second half. It was the most straight points that Cincinnati has ever allowed in team history without scoring. Last season the Bengals owned the No. 3 seed in the AFC Playoffs after winning the North division, but this year they are tied for the worst record in the conference.

To make matters work, the Bengals are dealing with a plethora of injuries in the secondary. The Bills torched this Bengals secondary, mostly after several key injuries. Four defensive backs were injured in the loss to Buffalo, including three starters. Safeties Roy Williams (concussion) and Chris Crocker (right knee) along with cornerbacks Jonathan Joseph (ankle) and Brandon Ghee (groin) were the four aforementioned players. Crocker appears to be out for the season, Joseph missed three games earlier this season with the same injury, and Williams is doubtful to play against the Jets.

Fortunately, the Bengals have some depth in the last level of defense as Chinedum Ndukwe and Reggie Nelson could be starting at safety this week. But they are not deep at cornerback, where Leon Hall and Rico Murray are the only two remaining corners on the roster. Buffalo QB Ryan Fitzpatrick torched this banged up secondary for 316 passing yards and a career-high 4 touchdowns. A short week for the Bengals could benefit them as they won’t have much time to think about personnel changes or the possibility that head coach Marvin Lewis may not be back next season. They have no other choice but to turn their focus to the Jets with only 3 days to prepare.

BetUS Projected Score: Jets 26 – Bengals 18

Comments

Got something to say?