Cincinnati Bengals (+3) @ Buffalo Bills (-3); Total set at 35
The Terrell Owens reunion tour of the 2010 preseason makes its final stop tonight in Buffalo as T.O faces his third former team this summer. After seeing the Cowboys in the Hall of Fame game (Bengals loss) and hosting the Eagles (Bengals win), T.O and his new comrades will see the most playing time yet this season and are looking to take advantage of it.
The Bengals have looked progressively better on both sides of the ball each week (which is exactly what the preseason is for) and now they head up to Buffalo hoping that the starters can completely gel before their Week 1 game in New England. With T.O now complimenting Chad Ochocinco at WR, the duo who now calls themselves “Batman and Robin” have experienced their first instance of trash talk from the opposition this year. Bills CB Drayton Florence has stated that he and his fellow DB’s are “Mr Freeze,” this week (arch enemy of Batman and Robin) and plan on shutting down the Bengals WR.
The Bills do have one of the best defensive backfields in the NFL, but offensively they come into this game limping with QB Trent Edwards playing “hot and cold” this summer and multiple injuries at RB leaving rookie C.J. Spiller to handle the bulk of the load. Cincinnati’s defense was 4th in the NFL last year and they will provide a stiff test for this Buffalo team.
Early action sees many bettors backing the Bills in this spot along with the over, and given that Cincinnati is 5-1 to the Over during Week 3 of the preseason in recent years and 1-8 ATS in week 3 as well, those numbers aren’t too surprising given the trends. But Buffalo is also 1-5 ATS during week 3 of the preseason in recent years, and are 0-6 ATS as favorites when coming off a double digit SU win.
Overall, Cincinnati has a tremendous advantage on both sides of the ball with the talent of their starters, where the only wash may be between the defensive backs. The Bengals are a well-balanced offensive team and if they get things rolling in this game, they could do to the Bills what the Eagles did in the 1st game of the preseason. I do like playing the over in this game because it is such a low total and these two teams have a history of playing high scoring games (4-0 to the over in last four meetings).
I am leaning on the Bengals and the over in this game and believe that with those picks, I believe the worst you would go is with a 1-1 split.
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