Bengals vs Falcons Odds, Pick, Prediction: NFL Preseason Preview

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We make a Bengals vs. Falcons pick on Friday night in the NFL preseason.

The Falcons enter the second full weekend of preseason football as one of the biggest favorites on the board against the Joe Burrow-less Bengals. Burrow is unlikely to have played in this game if he was healthy, but the focus is on Week 1 for Cincinnati.

Let’s break down the Bengals vs. Falcons odds and make a pick.

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This is one of the longest lines of the weekend mainly due to the quarterbacks in action and results of the first preseason games.

The Falcons defense looked dominant in a 19-3 win over the Dolphins last week, while the Bengals gave up 36 points to the Packers. The Atlanta offense didn’t look as good as the defense, but neither of its top two quarterbacks played in that game. Projected starter Desmond Ridder and new backup Taylor Heinicke appear set to make their preseason debuts against the Bengals.

I actually look at this as a bit of a disadvantage for the Falcons. The level of QB play will be higher for them than last week, but Ridder and Heinicke will both be shaking off some rust with their first real game action.

Cincinnati, meanwhile, will feature two quarterbacks who were in action last week against the Packers. Veteran backup Trevor Siemian will start, with Jake Browning coming in as the backup.

While his play most likely won’t blow anyone away, we know what we are getting out of Siemian, and he should provide a level of consistency that we may not get out of second-year QB Desmond Ridder.

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Both head coaches have admitted that they won’t show too much when it comes to offensive creativity in this game, so I don’t expect much from either offense. That makes this line of 6.5 points pretty tough to cover for the favorite with such a low total. The Bengals have more of a sure thing at QB when it comes to their starter, and I think overall this line is an overreaction to the first weekend of the preseason.

It’s hard to judge either team in preseason based on what happened the previous week because there could be completely different players on the field at any given time. For that reason, I think you have to take the points with the Bengals, who should be able to keep it close against a young Falcons team.

[quickslip picktext=”Pick: Bengals +6.5 (Bet to +4.5)” linktext=”Bet the NFL Instantly at FanDuel with QuickSlip” link=”https://switchboard.actionnetwork.com/v1/deeplink?marketId=42.391757389&selectionId=50210&context=qs-articles” linkfollow=”false” bookthumbnaillogo=”https://assets.actionnetwork.com/392973_FanDuel.png”][/quickslip]