Atlanta Falcons vs. Cincinnati Bengals October 23 Betting Preview

The Cincinnati Bengals will return home to Cincinnati to face the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. Both teams are 3-3 and are looking for a win to get them in a better position in the divisional standings.

The Bengals are tied for the top of the AFC North with the Baltimore Ravens. They are coming off a huge come-from-behind victory against the New Orleans Saints last weekend. The Bengals defense kept their streak alive of preventing a touchdown to an opposing team in the second half of every game this season.

The Falcons are coming off their own win last weekend against the San Francisco 49ers, which puts them in a tie for first place in the NFC South with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Falcons defense held the 49ers scoreless in the second half, which propelled them to the 28-14 win.

Let’s look ahead at this matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Atlanta Falcons on Sunday afternoon.

Odds

The Bengals are the home favorites by -6.5 points with odds of (-109) at that spread. The Falcons, at +6, have odds of (-112) to cover the spread. The over/under for total points scored in the game is set at 47.5 with odds of (-110) to bet the over or under. For the moneyline, the Bengals have odds of (-278) compared to the Falcons at (+220).

Keys To Victory

The Bengals are the clear favorites in this game but will need Joe Burrow and the Bengals offense to prosper to win this game. Burrow is coming off his best game of the season as he threw for 300 yards adding three touchdowns and no interceptions. This was his second game this season where he threw for three touchdowns.

The Bengals defense has been the saving grace for Cincinnati when the offense can’t produce. They rank in the top ten in opponent points, opponent yards and touchdowns given up per game.

The Falcons will also need to rely on their offense and the running game to keep up with the Bengals in this game. Atlanta’s offense features the second most rushes, third most rush yards and the fourth most rushing touchdowns per game. 

The success of the Atlanta rushing is in large part due to the dual-threat tendencies of quarterback Marcus Mariota. Tyler Allgeier leads the running back core while Cordarrelle Patterson is battling coming back from injury.

Expected Outcome

I like the Bengals to win this game, but this line will be tough for Cincinnati to cover. I’m going to play it safe and go with the Falcons covering the spread. The Falcons are much better than people make them out to be, and they are 3-3 for a reason. Playing on the road will be tough, but they will be able to keep it close.

We have not seen the Bengals break out and demolish any teams yet, and I don’t expect this time to be any different. The Bengals need to prove they can put teams away before I trust them with this amount in the spread.