Bills vs. Bengals Point Spread: NFL Week 9 Odds, Prediction
Cincinnati opened at -3 on the NFL odds.
NFL Point Spread and Betting Analysis
It’s incredibly, incredibly rare for the NFL to cancel a game. Even during the pandemic, it managed to play them all in the regular season and playoffs. When Buffalo visited Cincinnati in Week 17 last year, it was absolutely massive in the AFC playoff race in terms of seeding involving both those teams and the Kansas City Chiefs. However, in the first quarter Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed and went into cardiac arrest and nearly died – he would have if not for the first responders on the field. That led to the game being postponed and eventually canceled.
Because of that cancelation and some complicated tiebreakers, an AFC title game between Buffalo and Kansas City would have been played at a neutral site in Atlanta had they met. However, the Bengals went to Buffalo in the Divisional Round and dominated the Bills in a 27-10 victory in the snow as Joe Burrow outplayed fellow MVP candidate Josh Allen. Burrow completed his first nine passes for 105 yards as Cincinnati raced to a 14-0 lead after its first two possessions and really the game was never much in doubt. Cincinnati would go to KC for the AFC title game and lose.
Including playoffs, Buffalo leads the series 17-16. Their last official regular-season game was in 2019.
Buffalo Bills
Buffalo is 2-2 in its past four games and really has played down to its competition, fortunate to avoid an upset at home vs. Tampa Bay last Thursday in a 24-18 victory. The Bucs’ Chris Godwin was open for a Hail Mary at the end but couldn’t make out the ball in time. Josh Allen aggravated an injury in his throwing shoulder but played through it, throwing for 324 yards and two scores with a pick and rushing for a touchdown. He averaged 2.27 seconds per throw, the quickest of his career. As a result, Allen only faced pressure on 13 per cent of his dropbacks, also a new career low. Allen is now tied with Dan Marino for the second-most touchdowns in a player’s first six seasons with 199. Only Patrick Mahomes has more. James Cook added 67 yards rushing on 14 carries, and he will be now joined in the backfield by Leonard Fournette, who was signed off the street this week by the Bills (and may or may not debut Week 9). He spent the past three seasons with Tampa Bay and a big part of the Super Bowl run following the 2020 season.
Cincinnati Bengals
The Bengals looked completely out of sync the first few weeks of the season, especially QB Joe Burrow, but they played their best game of the season Sunday in winning for the fourth time in five games, 31-17 at San Francisco, which had won 11 straight at home. Burrow threw for 283 yards and three scores. His 87.5 completion percentage was a new career high and at one point, he had 19 straight completions, one shy of the franchise record set by Ken Anderson during the 1982 season. Burrow looked as healthy as he has all year off that calf injury first suffered at the start of camp. Ja’Marr Chase caught 10 passes for 100 yards and a TD. The Bengals forced three turnovers in the second half.
BUF
CIN