NFL Live Betting: Bengals Can All But Wrap Up AFC North By Beating Steelers
by Bovada Sportsbook Staff | Dec. 13, 2013
The Cincinnati Bengals haven’t made the playoffs three years in a row, but that will become official on Sunday night with a win over Pittsburgh and some help. The Bengals would wrap up their first AFC North title with a win and Baltimore loss in Detroit on Monday. Cincinnati will clinch at least a wild-card spot with a victory and Miami loss to New England earlier Sunday. Cincinnati is a 3-point favorite at Pittsburgh on Bovada’s NFL odds and there’s Live Betting available.
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The Steelers (5-8) are going to miss the playoffs for the second straight season, something that franchise hasn’t done since the late 1990s. Now it’s just a matter of whether Pittsburgh finishes last in the division. Any playoff hopes they had were dashed in last Sunday’s 34-28 home loss to Miami, the Steelers’ second straight defeat after a four-game winning streak.
Miami got the go-ahead score in the wintry conditions on a 12-yard TD pass from Ryan Tannehill to Charles Clay with 2:53 left and then added a field goal with 1:08 left for the final score. Ben Roethlisberger threw for 349 yards and three scores, but the Steelers were outgained on the ground 181-84. The Steelers actually appeared to score a touchdown on the game’s final play on a multi-player lateral but Antonio Brown was ruled to have stepped out of bounds on the Miami 12. Replays showed he did, although just barely. Pittsburgh isn’t officially eliminated from the playoffs yet but could be Sunday.
Cincinnati (9-4) played one of its best games of the season in Week 14, beating AFC South champion Indianapolis 42-28. Andy Dalton threw for 275 yard and three scores, and rookie Gio Bernard rushed for 99 yards on 12 carries as Cincinnati had 430 total yards and didn’t turn the ball over. Cincinnati is unbeaten at home, and it hasn’t run the table there since the 1988 regular season. Dalton’s sack-less and turnover-free game was his first since a Week 2 win over Pittsburgh. Dalton had struggled in November after a terrific October.
The news wasn’t all good Sunday for Cincinnati as starting cornerback Terence Newman was likely lost for the rest of the regular season with a sprained MCL. The two-time Pro Bowler has 52 tackles and two interceptions. Second-year player Dre Kirkpatrick will move into Newman’s starting role.
The Bengals are probably going to be no worse than the No. 3 seed in the AFC playoffs and they still hope to catch No. 2 New England (10-3). Cincinnati holds a head-to-head tiebreaker with the Patriots and New England could be vulnerable now with the loss of star tight end Rob Gronkowski the rest of the season. The Pats are -1.5 in Miami on Sunday and have a tough game at Baltimore next week before finishing at home against Buffalo. The Bengals, who are 6/1 to win the AFC title, will be favored in their final two games, at home against Minnesota and Baltimore.
Cincinnati has won just four of the past 14 meetings with the Steelers, but that includes the past two. In that Week 2 game on a Monday night, the Bengals won 20-10. Cincinnati gouged the Steelers for 407 yards. The Steelers managed only 278, including 44 on the ground. That dropped Pittsburgh to 0-2 for the first time under Mike Tomlin, and the Steelers have never fully recovered.
All four of the Bengals’ losses this year have come on the road, where they are 2-4-1 ATS overall. Pittsburgh is 3-3 at home and 3-3 ATS at Heinz Field.
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