The second week of the National Football League season begins in Cincinnati when two sides who suffered horrible defeats in the opening match of the campaign meet on Thursday night. Those two sides are the Cincinnati Bengals who host the Houston Texans.
It will be important for the pair of them to pick up a win in this match especially as they both lost divisional matches last week. Houston are probably better placed with the other two teams in their division losing but they won’t want to lose twice.
Cincinnati Bengals
It was a nightmare start to the season for the Cincinnati Bengals. It might not be the worst result to lose to the Baltimore Ravens when we look back on it at the end of the season but the way Andy Dalton played was a concern. He threw four interceptions and so his confidence must be low going into this one.
If there was a positive in that first match it came in the form of their defence although I’m not convinced they were up against much of an offense. They might not be here either though luckily for them. Dalton needs to find his form quickly but with AJ Green around you can never completely rule out the Bengals.
Houston Texans
A defeat to the Jacksonville Jaguars was not the beginning to the season that the Houston Texans wanted. In a way we can afford to cut them some slack given the atrocities that have been happening in that part of the world which must have had an impact on their preparations but there are no excuses here.
I’m surprised that DeShaun Watson was not given the start last week but he has been this week and I would expect the Texans to be much better for it. Watson will be without the injured Will Fuller and CJ Fiedorowicz who are injured while in the defence Brian Cushing will miss 10 matches for drug abuse which is not ideal.
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Betting
I don’t think this will be a high scoring match by any stretch of the imagination. Cincinnati Bengals struggled badly on offense last week while Houston Texans have a quarterback who is getting used to the league which might take a game or two.
When you add to that both defences are probably the stronger unit of their side points are going to be at a premium here but having twice had unders busted in the opening week through dodgy PI calls and turnovers I can’t be risking a 38 line. A low scoring match should see the Texans remain within a score regardless of the end result though especially when there is much more improvement in them with Watson starting than their opponents.
Tips
WON – Back Houston Texans (+6.5) to beat Cincinnati Bengals for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Bwin
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