The second leg of the Monday Night Football double header in the NFL 2024 season this week comes from Ohio where the Cincinnati Bengals take on the Washington Commanders in what is a huge game for the home side.
The Bengals have begun their season with two defeats and a third one will have them fighting hard for any kind of significance in their campaign. Washington have a win and a loss but a win here will have them looking pretty in the NFC East.
Cincinnati Bengals
We’ve been here before with the Cincinnati Bengals. This isn’t the first time that they have started a season 0-2 and while they hope it will be the last time that remains to be seen. The good news for them is that Joe Burrow has led them out of this hole before and here he has a primetime game at home to try and lead the fight back once again. Although the extra game means that there is a chance that a 0-3 start can be repaired, there still isn’t wholesale evidence of it so the Bengals will not want to lose and fall three games behind the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC North.
The good thing for Burrow is there were much more signs of life in defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs last week. They went down by one point in a match where Burrow was without one of his favourite weapons in Tee Higgins who is going to be back here. The Bengals defence offered a solid showing and when you consider that the offense put up 25 points against one of the better secondaries in the NFL and now face one of the weaker ones that bodes well.
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Washington Commanders
There was optimism around the Washington Commanders this season with a new franchise quarterback in place and a division which was potentially going to be weaker. The Philadelphia Eagles haven’t lived up to their side of that story but the Commanders have a win on the board and they will be level with the Eagles for wins with a victory here, although a road win in Cincinnati is never an easy thing to achieve at any time, let alone on primetime.
If the Commanders are going to win then their defence is going to need to improve, especially against the pass. Their win last week was against the New York Giants, which while a division win is no bad thing, the Giants offense looks very poor and that isn’t going to be the case with this Bengals one. If the Commanders can run the ball it will help their defence and keep Burrow off the field but if not they will need to prove they can fight fire with fire with a decent offense.
Betting
I think this is the time for the Cincinnati Bengals to come good and I think it will be the chance for Joe Burrow to come to the party. He has a passing yards line of 261.5 which is only 3.5 yards higher than what he managed against the Kansas City Chiefs in the defeat last week. The Chiefs secondary is a whole heap better than the one he is going to face here and Burrow has Tee Higgins back for this match as well so there are two legitimate reasons why he can go beyond this line.
The negative to it all was that last week was a competitive match and this one might not be if the Bengals get a couple of scores in front but I think Burrow will want to make a statement and restore combinations with his main weapons so even if the Cincinnati outfit do go ahead I think they will continue to pass the ball and look to get confidence in their passing game. If that is the case, or if this is more competitive than expected, I would expect Burrow to push 300 yards let alone 261.5.
Tips
Back J.Burrow – Over 261.5 passing yards for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Betfair
