Jaguars vs. Bengals Point Spread: NFL Week 4 Odds, Prediction
The clear story line for the Week 4 Thursday night NFL game is the first professional matchup of former star college quarterbacks in Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence and Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow. The Bengals are 7.5-point home favourites to win on the NFL odds, with a total of 46.0.
NFL Point Spread and Betting Analysis
Remember the last time that current Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence and Bengals QB Joe Burrow faced off? That was the College Football Playoff national championship game following the 2019 season when Burrow’s LSU Tigers stomped Lawrence’s Clemson Tigers 42-25. Burrow of course won the Heisman Trophy that season and was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, and Lawrence was the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft as they meet in the NFL for the first time Thursday.
It will be only the second ever quarterback meeting between the two most recent first overall picks. Cleveland’s Baker Mayfield (No. 1 overall in 2018) and Arizona’s Kyler Murray in (No. 1 overall in 2019) met in Week 15 of the 2019 season.
Cincinnati beat visiting Jacksonville 33-25 in Week 4 last year when Lawrence was still at Clemson. Burrow threw for 300 yards with a touchdown and an interception, while Joe Mixon rushed for 151 yards, two touchdowns and also caught a TD pass.
The favourite is 3-0-1 against the spread in the past four in this series.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Think Urban Meyer regrets coming out of coaching retirement to take the Jaguars job? They look as inept as ever at 0-3 and on an 18-game losing streak – all three losses this year are by double digits. Trevor Lawrence may be a superstar someday, but he is tied for the NFL lead with seven interceptions, including at least two in each game. He’s the fifth quarterback since the 1970 merger to throw multiple interceptions in each of his first three games, joining Blake Bortles (2014), Peyton Manning (1998), Troy Aikman (1989) and Jim Zorn (1976). Manning and Aikman became Hall of Famers. Zorn became a very good player. Bortles didn’t. Lawrence also has lost two fumbles. Jacksonville made a trade this week in sending 2020 first-round cornerback CJ Henderson to Carolina for tight end Dan Arnold and a draft pick. The Jaguars are 1-6 ATS in their past seven games.
Cincinnati Bengals
Joe Burrow led the Bengals to a 24-10 upset in Pittsburgh on Sunday as he completed 14 of 18 passes (career-high 77.8 per cent) for three touchdowns – two to rookie No. 5 overall pick Ja’Marr Chase. Chase is an early Offensive Rookie of the Year candidate with four TD catches and is one of four players in the league with at least one TD catch in all three games this season. Burrow has thrown at least two TDs in each game. Another good young receiver, second-year Tee Higgins, missed the Steelers game with a shoulder injury and is in doubt for Thursday. Cornerback Trae Waynes, a big-ticket free-agent addition this past winter, could make his Bengals debut. He has been out with a hamstring injury. Offensive linemen Riley Reiff and Xavier Su’a-Filo are in question. The Bengals are 6-2 ATS in their past eight at home.
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