Bengals vs. Eagles Preseason Odds, Prediction: Can Tanner McKee Lock Up the QB2 Job?
This is a matchup that carries little in the way of quarterback intrigue but plenty of roster-bubble stakes with cutdown day looming a week from Sunday.
Cincinnati arrives unbeaten in the preseason, having escaped Detroit 16-14 in the opener before rolling past Chicago 27-9 last Saturday, a game 40-year-old journeyman Josh Johnson steered while Joe Burrow and Joe Flacco watched in street clothes. Philadelphia, meanwhile, is still searching for its first preseason win, having dropped both prior contests, including a 24-21 loss at New England last weekend in which the offence actually outgained the Patriots but couldn’t finish drives.
Head coach Zac Taylor has already confirmed his starters are finished for the summer, and Nick Sirianni is expected to follow suit with Jalen Hurts, who has yet to take a preseason snap this year. Both clubs enter their third and final exhibition having already shut things down under centre for their franchise passers, turning this into a pure evaluation game for the players fighting to make the 53. Kickoff is set for 8:00 PM ET on CBS.
NFL Point Spread and Betting Analysis
Philadelphia opened as a 2.5-point home favourite, with the total sliding from 38.5 down to 36.5 as it became clear neither team’s top-shelf talent would play. The Eagles are now 3-point favourites with -150 odds on the money line. The Bengals are +125 underdogs. Cincinnati sits at 2-0 straight up but just 1-1 against the spread this preseason, while Philadelphia is 0-2 both straight up and against the number.
With both quarterback rooms fully turned over to reserves for the finale, this projects as a defence-and-depth game more than anything resembling a normal betting matchup.
Cincinnati Bengals
Burrow is not expected to play, having already gotten his preseason work in during the opener, and Flacco sat out entirely against Chicago as Johnson and Sean Clifford handled every snap. The story for Cincinnati has instead been its defence, which has looked considerably improved through two games. Rookie defensive tackle Landon Robinson has recorded a sack or half-sack in each contest, and the Bengals’ reserves held their own against Chicago’s starters before the backups took the game over completely in the second half.
On offence, keep an eye on the rookie receivers jockeying for the final roster spots. Colbie Young and Dohnte Meyers have both drawn regular targets from Johnson, with Young hauling in a 17-yard touchdown last week. With Taylor already indicating the Friday night lineup will be almost entirely reserves and roster hopefuls, this is Cincinnati’s last extended look at the back of its depth chart before cuts.
Philadelphia Eagles
The lone real storyline in Philadelphia’s preseason has been the competition to back up Hurts, and it hasn’t gone the way the depth chart suggested it might. Andy Dalton, acquired from Carolina and started both preseason games, was outplayed again last week, completing just 3-10 passes for 44 yards against the Patriots. Tanner McKee, working mostly with third-string weapons, was sharp in relief, going 16-22 for 173 yards and two touchdowns with a 125.8 passer rating. Sirianni has maintained the job is still open, but McKee has built a clear on-field case over the past two weekends.
Defensively, DT Ty Robinson has been one of the preseason’s quieter breakout stories, piling up three sacks and six pressures through two games after his roster spot was reportedly “on life support” entering camp. With Hurts unlikely to see the field again, Friday is McKee and Dalton’s last chance to settle the No. 2 job in a live setting.
NFL Prediction: Who Will Win Bengals vs. Eagles Pre-season?
Neither team is expected to play a meaningful snap of first-team offence, and the total has already fallen two points since the line opened as sportsbooks price in a game built entirely around backups and roster bubble players. Cincinnati’s defence has been stout in both preseason contests, while Philadelphia’s offence, even when it has moved the ball, has struggled to finish drives inside the red zone.
I lost by the hook last week with my Bills vs. Browns preview, but I feel great about the Under again. These are two teams treating this strictly as an evaluation exercise, with no starting quarterbacks and minimal starter snaps on either side, which points toward another stalled, low-scoring finish to close the preseason.
Final Score Prediction: Bengals 17 | Eagles 14