Week 4 of the NFL season begins with a clash between the last two men who were taken in the number one spot in the NFL Draft as Joe Burrow and his Cincinnati Bengals host Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars.
This is already looking like another ordinary season for the Jaguars and they will be hoping their rookie quarterback can inspire in his first primetime clash at this level. The Bengals have started the season well and can play this one with more than a bit of freedom.
Cincinnati Bengals
I think when the season was about to begin if you had offered Cincinnati Bengals followers a 2-1 winning start they would have snapped your hand off for it but when you consider the defeat came against an average Chicago Bears side there might be an element of disappointment that they are only 2-1. The wins came over the Minnesota Vikings and then a surprise win over the Pittsburgh Steelers last week so overall the start has to be considered a positive one.
The big positive for the Bengals is the fact that Burrow is showing no signs of fading after his knee injury of last season. The next positive comes in the form of their offensive line offering up no sacks to the Steelers last week and if they can continue to give the second year starter some good protection, he has shown enough in his career to suggest he’ll win matches, especially with rookie receiver Ja’Marr Chase in great form on the deep pass and Joe Mixon rushing to extremely good order.
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Jacksonville Jaguars
There was a little bit more optimism among the Jacksonville Jaguars fraternity ahead of the season starting. They have had a number of first round draft picks in the last year or two to build a very good young squad, including the number one pick this year where they took what they hoped would be their franchise quarterback Trevor Lawrence. With seven picks in his opening three matches it is fair to say he isn’t performing to the expectations that were placed on him.
One reason for that is a lack of quality receiving options for him to pass to. That might offer up some positivity in the recent trade which saw them lose C.J. Henderson and get tight end Dan Arnold in. He’ll be a receiving weapon for Lawrence to go to but the flip side of that is the Jaguars have lost a significant element of an already weak secondary and unless someone like Tre Herndon steps up and is counted in his first match of the season, this could quickly turn into a long night for the Jaguars.
Betting
It is hard not to like the Cincinnati Bengals in this match. You’d hope that the Jacksonville Jaguars will improve in time but there is nothing to suggest they are going to be competitive this week. The addition of Dan Arnold should help the passing game moving forward but off the back of a short week when he has only just signed it is asking a lot for him to be effective here so the struggles of Trevor Lawrence could continue, particularly against a defensive which has just made the Pittsburgh Steelers offense look very ordinary.
If Joe Burrow is given the time in the pocket that he was afforded against Pittsburgh last week, and the poor pass rushing statistics of the Jaguars this term suggests he will be, he has the ability to feast on an incredibly weak Jaguars secondary and even if the aerial game isn’t working, Burrow has the second leading rusher in the league on his side. When you add on to all of those statistical advantages the fact that this is a short week giving Jacksonville less time than normal to address their deficiencies, backing the Bengals to cover 7.5 points on the spread looks the best way forward.
Tips
Back Cincinnati Bengals (-7.5) to beat Jacksonville Jaguars for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
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