Betting With Bastl: Burrow and the Bengals Looking for Win Number One

It’s a pair of 0-2 teams in this matchup, but on one side there’s hope, the other desperation.

Joe Burrow has shown signs of brilliance in his first two career starts, both Bengal losses. Despite a weak offensive line and a running attack that is ranked 26^th in the league, averaging 95 yards per game, Burrow has played well. Last week, under the spotlight of Thursday nights nationally televised game, Burrow was 37-of-61 for 316 yards and three touchdowns. His 37 completions were the most in a game by a rookie in NFL history. His 61 pass attempts are the second most all-time in a game by a rookie Quarterback. He’ll face an Eagles pass defence that is ranked ninth the league. So, is it enough to cover 5.5 points in Philadelphia?

The Bengals have allowed the third most rushing yards against this season. Through two games, they have averaged 186 rush yards against and that could mean look out for a Miles Sanders breakout game. Sanders played his first game of the season last week and rushed for 95 yards on 20 carries versus the Rams. With back-to-back shaky starts from Carson Wentz, could the Jalen Hurts era be on the horizon?

NFL Week 2 Betting Two-minute Drill

You’re not going to find many trends out there between these two non-conference teams. If you want to reach a bit, the Bengals are 5-0 against the spread versus the Eagles in their last five games. However, the last time these two teams played each other was back in December of 2016 (Bengals won 32-14). By the way, in the last three years Carson Wentz is 7-15 straight up when he’s not playing against the Giants or Washington.

With some question marks for both of these defences, I am expecting a shootout.

Bastl’s Bets: Bengals +5.5, Over 46

Overtime Predictions:

Are the Seahawks the class of the NFC? Well, through two week, they might be. The Hawks have two solid wins against the Falcons and Cowboys. Russell Wilson has an 82.5% completion percentage through two games. It’s the highest through the first two games of a season in NFL history (Elias Sports). The Cowboys got into some trouble early against Atlanta last week, they won’t deliver the same miracle comeback against Seattle this weekend. Also of note, I bought the Seahawks to win the Super Bowl at 10/1 earlier this week.

Speaking of the Falcons, they had 39 points with zero turnovers in their loss to the Cowboys this past Sunday. Prior to the game, since 1933, teams were 440-0 when scoring at least 39 points with 0 turnovers – that all changed on September 20. Will they meltdown again? I’m going to say no. The offence isn’t the problem in Atlanta. Through two games, Matt Ryan has thrown for 723 yards, which is second best in the NFL and also has six touchdowns (tied for second in the league). Its hard to believe that this team has scored 64 points in two games and still doesn’t have a win. That changes on Sunday afternoon.

Bastl’s Bets: Seahawks -5, Falcons -3