The Dolphins will invade the Queen City on Thursday night for a date with the Bengals. Let’s break down the odds for this matchup.
Miami Dolphins vs. Cincinnati Bengals
Thursday, September 29, 2022 – 08:15 PM EDT at Paycor Stadium
It was just two games into the season when several wondered aloud on Twitter, “Who’s gonna beat this Bills team?”
Well, wonder no more, because the Dolphins have reached into their seemingly bottomless bag of tricks and pulled out their third victory, and ATS cover, of the season after beating Buffalo, 21-19, and are now in sole possession of the first place in the AFC East division.
Football is funny like that because every year there is a team, or sometimes teams, that look invincible but they get beaten two or three times by the end of the regular season. There have been only two exceptions in the history of the NFL which is why when the masses get heavy on an “unbeatable” team it’s usually a good idea to go the other way.
Fins Up
Tua Tagovailoa was coming off of an extraordinary game in Week 2 in which he tossed six touchdown passes, including the game-winner with just seconds remaining, and launched for 469 passing yards in defeating the Ravens, 42-38. Nobody expected him to duplicate that stellar performance when he lined up against the Bills last week – and he didn’t.
However, what he did do was lead his offense to a two-point win over the team that the NFL odds have installed as the prohibitive favorites of winning the division and one of the chalkiest teams on the board to be crowned as AFC champs this year.
When the dust settled, the Dolphins held the prolific Josh Allen to just two touchdowns despite his 63 pass attempts. They also contained the Buffalo ground game, allowing 115 rushing yards with Josh Allen leading his team with 47 of those yards. It was a workmanlike victory without the gaudy stats of the previous week. But it was an important win that sent a shot across the bow of the entire league.
Bengals Ground Jets
A victory over the woeful Jets might not be cause for celebration but when you’re the reigning AFC champions and have yet to sniff a win after two weeks (against middling competition), you’ll tip a glass or two. And that’s what happened last week as the Bengals traveled to New Jersey to meet Gang Green and came out on top by the score of 27-12.
Joe Burrow finally looked like the Joe Cool we knew and loved last season as he fired three touchdown passes and tossed for 275 yards in the victory. The running game was virtually non-existent as Joe Mixon was shut down for only 24 yards on a dozen carries but the Cincinnati defense was on point with four sacks and two interceptions.
Dolphins vs. Bengals: Pick and Prediction
The Dolphins have disposed of their AFC East nemesis, the New England Patriots, bested an early MVP candidate in Lamar Jackson by defeating the Ravens and just knocked off the team many believe will win the AFC but also the Super Bowl. It can’t get much better for the Dolphins and as we said before, all teams eventually lose no matter how good they look.
This will likely be the end of the line for the Dolphins, at least as far as their winning streak is concerned but this is undoubtedly a playoff-caliber team. The Fish have several things working against them:
- Miami is playing on the road
- Miami could be susceptible to a “letdown game” after their biggest win of the season.
- Miami owns the 30th-ranked rushing offense vs. Cincinnati’s 9th-ranked run-stop unit which will make the Dolphins a one-dimensional offense that the Bengals’ secondary can key on.
- Miami owns the 30th-ranked pass defense against one of the most lethal aerial attacks in the league. The same could be said for the Bills whom Miami contained last week but that’s the exception, not the rule.
Although a case could be made that this is a trap game for the Cats, as they will be meeting the Ravens next week, that is unlikely the case because of who they are playing this week. The Dolphins are not a team Cincinnati, nor anyone else, will overlook for obvious reasons.
This will be an enormous test for the sputtering Bengals and it appears Joe Burrow and his twin terrors on the wings, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, will be out to prove that they are the most dynamic duo on the field and not the illustrious Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle.
This is a marquee matchup and one that will likely have a fair share of aerial heroics on both sides. But the Bengals are in a good spot after coming off of their first win while this will very possibly be a letdown game for the Dolphins after their enormous victory over the Bills. Back the Cats and cash a ticket. Don’t forget to compare our score prediction to the OddsTrader computer picks.
Predicted Score: Bengals 32 – Dolphins 27
Free NFL Pick: Bengals -3 (-106) at FanDuel
