The Houston Texans and the Cincinnati Bengals kickoff Week 2 of the new NFL season in a Thursday Night Football showdown at Paul Brown Stadium. NBC has the national coverage for this prime time battle starting at 8:30 p.m. (ET)
Houston at Cincinnati Game Overview
Houston started last week’s game fired up to help the home-town crowd turn its attention away from the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey, but it never carried it onto the field in a very disappointing 29-7 loss to AFC South rival Jacksonville as a six-point favorite. The total stayed UNDER the closing 38-point line. The Texans now have to go on the road to try and turn things around where they have gone 2-7 against the spread in their last nine road games. The total has stayed UNDER in three of their last four games played on the road.
It did not take head coach Bill O’Brien all that long to turn to rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson to try and add a spark to his offense after Tom Savage proved to be ineffective at moving this unit through the first two quarters of last week’s game. While O’Brien has yet to name his starter for Thursday night, look for Watson to get the call if his injured ankle is good to go. He completed 12-of-23 passes for 102 yards and a score while also adding 16 yards on the ground on two rushing attempts.
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The Bengals are another team coming off a rather dismal performance in Week 1. They were blanked 20-0 by AFC North rival Baltimore last Sunday as 2.5-point home favorites with the total staying UNDER the 41.5-point closing line. Cincinnati did end last season with a 4-2 record ATS in its last six games, but with Sunday’s loss it is now 2-4 ATS in its last six home games. The total has stayed UNDER in four of the Bengals’ last five games at Paul Brown Stadium.
The only good news surrounding Andy Dalton’s performance against the Ravens last week is that the he has nowhere to go but up after posting a quarterback rating of 0.7. He completed 16-of-31 passes for 170 yards, but he also threw four interceptions to go along with five sacks. The Bengals also had a tough time moving the ball on the ground with 77 rushing yards on 22 attempts. The defense held Joe Flacco to just 121 yards through the air, but it yielded 157 yards on the ground to help Baltimore control the ball and chew up the clock.
Houston at Cincinnati Game Betting Trends
- The Texans are 1-5 ATS in their last six games following a loss of more than 14 points and they are 1-5 ATS in their last six conference games. The total has stayed UNDER in five of their last six games coming off a SU loss.
- The Bengals are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games after failing to score more than 14 points in their previous game and they are 6-1-1 ATS in their last eight games in Week 2. The total has stayed UNDER in five of their last six games following a SU loss.
- Head-to-head in this AFC tilt, the underdog has gone 5-2 ATS in the last seven meetings and the total has stayed UNDER in the last four.
