Sunday Night Football - Cincinnati Bengals at New York Giants Odds and Picks

The Cincinnati Bengals are 1-4 and need to turn the corner soon before its too late. That’s why there has been plenty of action on them to beat the New York Giants on Sunday Night Football. Cincinnati is a 3.5-point road favorite per the NFL betting odds, as the oddsmakers expect the Giants to move to 0-3 at home this season. However, Brian Daboll might be coaching for his job considering how the Giants have performed so far this year. The Giants are in the middle of a tough stretch of games, but five of their next six tilts are at home before a Thanksgiving tilt against Dallas.

Week 6 Cincinnati Bengals at New York Giants

Cincinnati Bengals -3.5

New York Giants +3.5

Total 48

There has been some back-and-forth movement on the spread here. Cincinnati opened as a 3.5-point favorite per the football betting odds, but there was some early action on the New York Giants to move the number down a half-point. We have since seen the line bounce back as money on the Bengals started to come in the middle of the week. Meanwhile, the total opened at 47.5 and moved to 48.5 before settling at 48.

Cincinnati Bengals Overview

There were some concerns about the Cincinnati offense after its performance in Week 1, but the Bengals have been sharp on this side of the ball for the last month. They have averaged 32.5 PPG over their last four games as Joe Burrow has been thriving. Burrow has now completed 72.3% of his passes for 1,370 yards (7.9 YPA) with 12 touchdowns and two interceptions.

Ja’Marr Chase had a huge performance against the Baltimore Ravens last week. He hauled in 10 passes for 193 yards on just 12 targets, and he found the end zone twice. Chase now has five receiving touchdowns in the last three weeks.

Tee Higgins had his best game of the year last week against Baltimore, but the Bengals’ running game has left much to be desired. Now, Zack Moss and Chase Brown are both questionable to play, so Trayveon Williams might receive his first carries of the season on Sunday night.

Defensively, the Bengals are relatively healthy compared to most teams. However, they have really struggled on this side of the ball ranking 31st in scoring defense (29.0 PPG) and 26th in total defense (365.4 YPG). Their inability to get to the quarterback has really hurt them, so they need to find a way to get some pressure.

New York Giants Overview

Daniel Jones has not been terrible this season. Jones has completed 64% of his passes for 1,138 yards (6.4 YPA) with six touchdowns and three interceptions. He played well in wins over Seattle and Cleveland, and he has the potential to put up some points against the Cincinnati defense. However, leading rusher Devin Singletary and leading receiver Malik Nabers are both questionable to play.

Their absence would really hamper the Giants on offense. This is a team lacking playmakers on that side of the ball, so they are hoping that Singletary can overcome his groin injury and Nabers will be cleared after suffering a concussion against Dallas two weeks ago.

The Giants have some real talent on defense. However, they might be missing their two best pass rushers as Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux are both listed as questionable to take the field. The good news is that Dexter Lawrence is set to go, and he has been incredible at nose tackle this year. Lawrence is drawing Aaron Donald comparisons with six sacks in five games despite being an interior lineman in a 3-4. 

Sunday Night Football Prediction

As long as Burrow has time to throw, he should be able to torch the Giants’ secondary. Big Blue is not strong at defensive back, and they heavily rely on their pass rush to get after the quarterback. They rank first in sack percentage (12.29%), and that ability to disrupt passing games is the only thing the Giants really have going for them. I’ll trust that Cincinnati figures the Giants’ pass rush out, especially considering Burns and Thibodeaux won’t be at 100%.

Final Score: Cincinnati 31, New York 19