This Thursday, the 6th of November, NFL Week 10 kicks off with the Cleveland Browns 5-3 (3rd AFC North) playing at the Cincinnati Bengals 5-2-1 (1st AFC North). The game will be played at the Paul Brown Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio with a gametime of 8:25 PM ET. It will be televised on NFL TV. Early betting odds have the Bengals favorites at –6 ½ with the O/U 44 ½ and on ML -275, comeback +235 on the Browns.
Going into this NFL Week 10, the AFC North is ahead of the other NFL divisions, because all 4 teams have winning records at this point of the season, with each team have a good chance of making the playoffs, and each of the divisional games are of the utmost importance. Thus, this game on Thursday night, between the Browns and the Bengals is a very important matchup, because this game has post season and Ohio historical implications with this intrastate rivalry.
It’s been a long time since these two teams meet with both having things on the line in this week 10, as it has been some 3 decades since the Browns and the Bengals both made the playoffs, which was in the 1988 regular season they won 22 games combined.
The Cleveland Browns returned to the league in 1999, and the franchise has had only 1 post season win since then, but they have shown that in this 2014 season, they are for real. This 2014 they have managed to win 5 of their 8 season games thus far in 2014 and that includes wins over the Steelers and the Saints.
Most football fans are not surprised that the Cincinnati Bengals are at the top of their division with their 5-2-1 record, as they are a team that has made the playoffs in 4 of their last 5 season, but unfortunately they previously have never made in out of the 1st round. Their QB Dalton has been with the team for 3 seasons and has been in the playoffs in all 3 of his NFL season to date.
These two rival Ohio NFL teams to date have similar seasons, as each have failed to exceed in any particular area of the games, but have managed to play well in close games this season. The Bengals offense ranks 15th and their defense 25th and are unbeaten in three games of one possession each. The Browns offensively, are tied for 19th ranking and defensively rank 22nd yards allowed to opponents, and they have won 4 of last 5 games by some 10 points.
Both the Browns and the Bengals won their last two games, and it appears the Bengals have a slight advantage, as the odds opened, giving them a -6 point favorite, as they drive to continue winning, and lead in the North AFC. Also, they have not lost at home in this series since back in 2012.
The weakness the Browns have in this matchup is their run defense, and surely the Bengals will exploit that asset. Their running game with RB Hill in week 9 had 24 carries for 154 yards rushing.
So if you bet on NFL at an offshore betting site, a known expert picks the Bengals to beat Cleveland in the game 27-20. Then you should know that next week Nov.16th, the Cleveland Browns now 5-3 play at home against the Houston Texans now 4-5 (2nd AFC South) at the Texans FirstEnergy Stadium at 1 PM ET on CBS TV. The Bengals now 5-2 play at the New Orleans Saints 4-4 (1st NFC South) also on Sunday the 16th of Nov.2014 at 1 PM ET in New Orleans, La., and on CBS TV.