The Cincinnati Bengals travel to the Buffalo Bills in what was meant to be a rematch of the week 16 match between these two that couldn’t be completed due to unfortunate events.
Last season’s AFC Champions will have to go through the Super Bowl favourite Buffalo Bills if they’re to have a shot at reaching a second successive Championship game.
Sean McDermott’s side head into the Divisional Round match on an 8-game winning streak since an overtime loss to the Minnesota Vikings back in November. However, they were anything but convincing in their 32-29 victory over AFC East rivals Miami last weekend.
Josh Allen had thrown the joint-most interceptions in the regular season before adding another two last weekend. Defensively they just about got the job done in the fourth quarter as they had to come-from-behind against a Dolphins team that were starting 7th round Quarterback Skylar Thompson.
Cincinnati pose a much bigger threat than that, with Joe Burrows an excellent QB and with JaMarr Chase one of elite receivers in the NFL. Add Tee Higgins, Tyler Boyd and Hayden Hurst as reliable options for the former LSU quarterback’s arsenal and the Bills have a lot of work defensively.
Then there’s Joe Mixon, who’s one of the leading running backs in the NFL and should be fresh having had just 11 carries and 14 touches in last weekend’s 24-17 victory over AFC South rivals Baltimore.
This team’s defence has got better as the season has gone on and I can see them being the difference here. They came up big versus Tennessee at this stage last season and I can see them turning Allen over a couple of times to get the job done on Sunday.
What is the Bengals @ Bills money line?
The Buffalo Bills are 5/13 favourites and -5.5 against the spread.
Cincinnati @ Buffalo pick
It should be a close one where a big play on defence or special teams could be the difference. And I have to lean towards Cincinnati.
Pick: Cincinnati Bengals +5.5 is 10/11
