Bengals / Browns Monday Night Preview

Cincinnati travels to Cleveland to take on Browns tonight at 8:15 eastern on ESPN. The Manning Cast with Peyton and Eli will also simulcast the game on ESPN2. Cincinnati(4-3) has won four of five games after starting the season 0-2. Three of the four wins have been by double digits, including a 35-17 win over Atlanta last week where Joe Burrow threw for 481 yards and 3 touchdowns. Cincinnati will be without superstar wideout Ja’Marr Chase, who will be out for 4-6 weeks with a hip injury. Cincinnati still has very capable wideouts in Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd who will look to fill the void. Joe Mixon is also a receiving threat out of the backfield for Cincinnati.

Cleveland(2-5) has lost four straight games and is rumored to be on the verge of trading RB Kareem Hunt. Four of Cleveland’s five losses have been by 3 points or less so a turnaround is possible if they can fix their late game execution. Despite the disappointing season so far, Cleveland running back Nick Chubb has been outstanding as he’s among the league leaders in rushing with 740 yards and leads the NFL with 8 rushing touchdowns.  Cleveland has won 4 straight games against Cincinnati, including a 41-16 shellacking at Cincinnati last year where Joe Burrow had arguably his worst game as an NFL player. Cincinnati opened as a 2.5 point favorite and the line has gone up to 3.5 in many places. The total has dropped from 47 to 45.5 which indicates the public likes Cincinnati and the under.

Bengals / Browns preview