Professional football is, like NFL betting, a fickle endeavor. Just ask possibly former Houston Texans starting quarterback Tom Savage, who will, provided rookie Deshaun Watson is fully healthy, watch the game versus The Cincinnati Bengals from the sidelines. To add insult to injury, Bengals QB Andy Dalton is probably going to, his own ghastly performance notwithstanding, start for his team this coming Thursday. Dalton didn’t, then again, lose to the Jaguars.
- Date: Thursday, September 14th
- Time: 8:25 PM
- Venue: Paul Brown Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio
Sportsbook Odds for Fans Betting on NFL:
Texans +4 (-110) 38½ (-110) +170
Bengals -4 (-110) 38½ (-110) -200
Le mauvais Savage
Tom Savage’s tenure as Texans starting quarterback lasted, before being pulled out in favor of rookie Deshaun Watson, all of two quarters of Houston’s 7-29 loss to Jacksonville. Head coach Bill O’Brien has not yet named a starter for Week 2, but all signs point to, according to NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport, Watson getting the nod, were it not for the fact that he was seen limping Sunday night with an ankle injury.
One complicating issue for the #Texans & their QB choice: Source says Deshaun Watson was spotted limping with an ankle injury. Short week.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 11, 2017
The starting QB, whether Savage or Watson, will have an additional target in the form of wide receiver Jalen Strong who, while serving one-game suspension for violating the league’s substance abuse policy, missed the loss to the Jags. Strong is projected, with defenses closing in on DeAndre Hopkins, to have bigger role this season. “There’s always work to be done,” Strong said via CBS Sports. “Of course, I’ll be working out and doing what I need to be doing.” The Texans will have their work cut out for them if they want to remain within the four-point NFL betting spread. Houston is 1-5 against the spread in the last five games and 1-4 ATS in the last five road games, but they have covered in the last five visits to Cincy.
Andy Dalton “sucks” and not in the good, Kurt Angle way
Dalton had a terrible, four-pick, fumble-losing, game against the Ravens on Sunday, and the local fans were not shy about letting him know about it.
Here's why Andy Dalton runs off…
One fan: "You suck."
Another throws hat at Dalton.
Another fan yells: "I want Carson back." #Bengals pic.twitter.com/uAHDcNImMu— Jeremy Rauch (@FOX19Jeremy) September 10, 2017
However, and in spite of the popular clamor for Dalton’s head, head coach Marvin Lewis will not, at least according to CBS Sports Writer John Breech, bench Dalton anytime soon. “Two were off tipped balls, and on the other one (Brandon) LaFell gets grabbed, even though I don’t know if that has an effect on the play,” Breech quoted Lewis as support for his theory. “Brandon got tackled when he made the break on the play. Those things, and the tipped balls, didn’t bounce our way. Sometimes they bounce our way, and sometimes they don’t. Theirs happened to bounce right to them.” How Breech construed from that that Dalton’s job is not at risk is anyone’s guess, though. What is Lewis, on the other hand, going to do? Start AJ McCarron? Taking into account, both teams’ quarterback woes, one would be tempted to believe that the NFL betting total might just go under, as it has in four of the last encounters between Cincy and Houston.