The Cincy Bengals vs. Jacksonville Jaguars sports betting regular season game will be, to defensive end Chris Smith, just that. “We go to Jacksonville, so that’s one thing about it,” Smith said. “You know what I’m saying? So that’s one thing about it. We gotta get ready and everything of that nature – but it’s still a regular week.” But is it really, though? This will be the first time that the Arkansas product will face the team that originally drafted him. The Jaguars traded Smith to the Bengals on April 11th in exchange for a 2018 conditional draft pick.
- Date: Sunday, 5th November
- Time: 1:05 PM
- Venue: EverBank Field
Online sportsbook odds for fans betting on sports:
Bengals +6 (-110) 39 (-110) +215
Jaguars -6 (-110) 39 (-110) -260
That’s what we call a sack lunch! Num-num-num-num-num!
The Bengals, and particularly QB Andy Dalton, are the most sacked team in the league (22 times) while the Jags are the team with the most sacks this season (33). Both could potentially break records; Dalton could beat his personal worst of 46 in 2012, while the Jaguars break the 1984 Bears’ record of 72.
That was, technically speaking, not in fact a sack, but you get the idea. Dalton has been sacked on 9.2% of his dropbacks this season, another career-worst, and he has been sacked at least thrice in all but one game this season. On the plus side, Dalton has an 11-to-4 touchdown-to-interception ratio in five games since offensive coordinator Bill Lazor took over Ken Zampese. Cincy has failed to cover in the last eight games as road dogs, but is 4-0 SU and 3-0-1 ATS in their last four games against Jacksonville, as well as 4-1 ATS in their last five on the road, and 3-8-1 against the sports betting spread in their last 11 playing a team with a winning record.
If the Jags were on Seinfeld, they’d be Bob Sackamano
The Jaguars sacked Jacoby Brissett 10 times, the second time they have double digit sacks in a single game this season, in Jacksonville’s 27-0 win over the Colts before going on bye last week. The Jags could become, if they record seven sacks against the Bengals, the second team, the first being the 1967 Oakland Raiders, in the Super Bowl era with at least 40 sacks and 10 picks in the first eight games of a season. On the other side of the ball, Chris Smith will be the only familiar thing the Jags will find in Cincy’s 4-3 defense. Jacksonville has gone up against mostly 3-4 defenses throughout the first half of the season. “It was funny getting up in front of the guys and saying ‘Okay, we’ve got a 4-3 defense now,’” OC Nathaniel Hackett said. “It’s completely different. This team is dramatically different than all of the other ones that we’ve seen. The positive thing is that’s what our defense does, so we’ve gotten to go back to what we’ve been going against in OTAs and training camp, so there is some recall there.” The sports betting total has gone under in 11 of the Bengals’ last 15 games, but Leonard Fournette & Co. will attempt to change that.