Cincinnati Bengals vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers December 18 Betting Preview

The Cincinnati Bengals will take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Tampa Bay on Sunday at 4:25 pm. 

The Bengals are on a cool five-game win streak with an overall record of 9-4, which is tied for first in the AFC North with the Baltimore Ravens. The Buccaneers are at the top of the NFC South with their record of 6-7.

In their last game, the Bengals finally got a win against the Cleveland Browns. This is Joe Burrow’s first win against the Browns in his career. Burrow went 18-33 with 239 yards and two touchdowns. 

The big story of the game was the Bengals’ defense which held the Browns’ offense scoreless in both the first and fourth quarters.

The Buccaneers took a loss in their last matchup against the San Francisco 49ers, who handed Tampa Bay their seventh loss of the season. 

The 49ers were able to dismantle the Buccaneers overall by outscoring them by 28 and holding Tom Brady to one touchdown, which turned out to be the only points that Tampa Bay could muster for the duration of this game.

Let’s look ahead at the matchup this upcoming weekend featuring the Cincinnati Bengals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

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Odds

The Bengals are the favorites in this one despite being on the road. They hold a 3.5-point advantage with odds of (-110) at that spread. 

The Buccaneers have the same odds of (-110) to cover the 3.5-point spread. For the moneyline, the Bengals have odds of (-193), and the Buccaneers have odds of (+160) to win the game outright. The over/under for total points scored in the game is set at 44 with odds of (-109) and (-112) to bet the over and under, respectively.

Keys To The Game

Both teams need this win to keep the pressure on in the divisional races. The Bengals are tied for the lead and are currently losing the tiebreaker to the Ravens because of their head-to-head loss against Baltimore earlier this season. 

The Buccaneers hold a one-game advantage against the Carolina Panthers, who are on a nice two-game winning streak.

In this game, the Bengals will need to rely on their defense to stop Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay offense on the road. They rank 11th in points given up per game and 14th in opponent yards per game. In order to win this game, they will need to show up and prevail over their recent injury struggles

Tom Brady needs to show up for the Buccaneers if they want to win this game. Tampa Bay is going against a prolific Bengals’ offense and will need Brady to produce to keep up with Burrow and the Bengals. 

Brady has a total of 17 touchdowns and five interceptions on the season, with a passer rating of 88.9.