Eagles vs. Bengals Matchup: Insights and Predictions

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00:00game between the Eagles and the Bangles. Cincinnati's a two and a half point favorite. That's because

00:07Cincinnati is a bit better than that three and four record would suggest. Really inexcusable

00:13losses to Kansas City and Baltimore. Shoulda, woulda, coulda, but with wins there, you're

00:17not only talking about a five and two team, you could be talking about favorites in the

00:22North, the conference, they'd be in that type of conversation for the Bangles. They have

00:28now won two games in a row. They've won three or four. Carolina, the Giants, the Browns.

00:35Okay, is that moving the needle? They've lost all of their home games so far this season.

00:40Cincinnati brings in a Philadelphia team that I feel a lot of people can't get a great read

00:46on. A lot of people seem to hate this Eagles team, and I don't know how much of that is

00:50tied to Nick Sirianni, but simply the Eagles this season are unbeaten when A.J. Brown plays.

00:56They've gone two straight weeks with allowing a defensive touchdown, and yet I still feel

01:01the conversations remain more negative around the Eagles. It's a tricky game, Joe. How do

01:06you see it playing out? Yeah, it is tricky, and I told you it'll bounce. I'll buy more

01:11into Philadelphia if they get this victory today on the road, and to your point about

01:15Cincinnati, they haven't won at home, so this is an opportunity for Jalen Hurts and that

01:20offense to find continuity. The rushing attack got going, but the reason why I'm a little

01:24tempered on the big picture for Philadelphia is the defense. Now, granted, they contain

01:30two, I want to say, conservative type of offenses in Cleveland with Deshaun Watson and Daniel

01:36Jones. That's the concern for me, is that I need to see them do it against Joe Burrow.

01:42Now, Burrow threw for a buck eighty-one in two touchdowns last week, played well in the

01:46scheme. It was a lower-scoring game. They relied on the defense to take over. Joe Burrow's

01:51going to grip it and rip it today, so if that defense can contain him under, let's

01:56say, twenty points or under twenty-three points, that's a great effort. I give the inside edge

02:01to Philadelphia because I think they're the more complete team, and I'll buy into the

02:05defense traveling on the road, but I think it's a tough matchup. Panthers, Browns, Giants.

02:11Three of the worst teams in the NFL, that's the victories that the Cincinnati Bengals

02:15have this year. So now you're stepping up in class. Are the Eagles the best team in

02:19the NFC? No. I think that's Detroit. Are they going to make the playoffs? Probably.

02:22Could they win the division? Yes. But late in the week, I said to myself, you know, if

02:26this is going to be a tough game for the Eagles, it's on the road. Joe Burrow's a very good

02:28quarterback. We understand that. Tee Higgins, tough to deal with with Jamar Chase. They're

02:32back and forth. They look great. Tee Higgins goes down with an injury to a quadricep on

02:36Friday. Now they're pessimistic that he's going to play today. They can't win this football

02:40game. And I understand their favorite is the NFL on any given Sunday, but if your three

02:44wins are those three teams I just listed, and Tee Higgins, who's such a big part of

02:47that offense, where now the Philadelphia Eagles can just hone down on one wide receiver

02:51and say, all right, Joe Burrow beat us with an offensive line where he no likes to hold

02:54the football. The Eagles getting home with eight sacks last week, five the week before.

02:57That's 13 combined in two short weeks here. I just look at it now as this is an Eagles

03:01game to win. They are the underdog team, but I think they're the better team as long as

03:05Jalen Hurts has a decent performance. Now, if we're looking at some of the lines here,

03:08which way would you want to bet? Put it this way. If I'm betting the Cincinnati Bengals

03:12today, I'm not going to take a money line. I'm not going to take them to lay the points.

03:14I'm not going to take the total. It's Trey Hendrickson to get a sack. If he gets a sack

03:18and gets pressure because he's going up against a guy that's certainly not Andrew Maillotta

03:21at left tackle, that's how I'm going to approach this game. If he gets three sacks, they can

03:25still lose. If he does not get a sack, that means the Eagles guys up and down the field

03:29are absolutely going nuts.

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