Sports betting results a year ago on the Cincinnati Bengals were a lot more successful than expected as Cincinnati won 10 games. The Bengals are not going under the radar as much in Internet sports betting this time but they are still not the favorite to win the AFC North.
Sports betting listed Pittsburgh and Baltimore ahead of Cincinnati in the AFC North. The Bengals have not had back-to-back winning seasons since 1982 so there are some doubters out there. The Bengals may be able to win again in 2010 though. They won the AFC North division title last year and it was not a sports betting fluke. “We still feel like the rest of the teams in the league thought last year was a fluke,” Cincinnati safety Chris Crocker said. “I think if you ask everybody [in the locker room], we still don’t feel like we’ve earned everybody’s respect.
The problem for Cincinnati in Internet sports betting under head coach Marvin Lewis is that they have had only two winning seasons. They won 11 games in 2005 and won the division and last year they won 10 games and won the division. It won’t be easy in 2010 because Cincinnati is now the team that everyone wants to beat. The Baltimore Ravens made a big sports betting move by getting wide receiver Anquan Boldin from the Arizona Cardinals. Pittsburgh will want to rebound with a big year and even Cleveland is headed in a new direction with new president Mike Holmgren. “The teams within the division know what they’re going to get from us,” Cincinnati quarterback Carson Palmer said. “We’re not going to be overlooked. We’re not going to be the underdog in a lot of those games, and our division I still think is the best.”
The Bengals were in this position four years ago after they went 11-5. The talk was big the next year and the Bengals flopped, going 8-8 in sports betting. The team didn’t win again until last year. “I believe there was some valuable lessons and insight for everyone in that situation,” Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said. “We don’t look to [just] have a winning season. We want to go back into the playoffs, repeat as division champs and so forth.” Many of the Cincinnati players believe it will be different this time.
“If there’s a group that can take the next step, it’s this group,” Palmer said. “We’ve got guys that’s been around the league for a little while, played in big games, played in electric atmospheres and playoff-type games. We understand what’s at stake. We understand what’s ahead of us.”