Do the Jets plunge the Bengals deeper into crisis?

Two surprise teams from week two meet in a head-to-head duel in week three in the “city that never sleeps”. There, the New York Jets welcome the Cincinnati Bengals. Surprisingly, a bet on the previously winless visitors, whose path led them to the Super Bowl last season, only brings odds of up to 1.45. This suggests that the bookmakers only give the hosts a 35% probability of winning.

The New York Jets celebrated their fifth win in 19 games under head coach Robert Saleh last week, their first of the season. The win came thanks to a spectacular comeback in the last two minutes against the Cleveland Browns. With 115 seconds left, the Jets got the ball back at 17:30 and scored two more touchdowns. They thus provided a positive surprise.

The negative surprise was the Cincinnati Bengals, as they remain winless after losing to the Dallas Cowboys in week two. The biggest problem for the Ohio franchise right now seems to be their own offense around playmaker Joe Burrow, who excelled last season.

New York Jets – Statistics & current form

The Jets season started with bad news before the first game even took place, as playmaker Zach Wilson, who was actually seeded, will be out for at least four weeks. Joe Flacco was and still is the starting quarterback. Under his leadership, however, the offence looked almost lifeless on the first day of the game against the Ravens and only put nine points on the scoreboard. In the game in Cleveland, Flacco played an enormous role in the comeback victory with 305 passing yards and four touchdown passes.

Offensive improved

He will almost certainly be a playmaker against the Bengals as well. After the performance of late, Flacco deserves that on the one hand, and on the other, the game comes too soon for Wilson. One thing to watch in both games so far is how intensively the playmaker uses the wide pass receiver group. At least four different wide receivers and two running backs are regularly sought out as ball catchers. The short passing game with rookie Garrett Wilson and vertical balls with Corey Davis have been outstanding lately.

Strictly speaking, the newly formed Jets defence is not yet performing at the level the franchise from the “Big Apple” has promised itself. The team conceded 24 and 30 points against strong opponents, which clearly shows the coordination problems. Under a defensive-minded head coach like Saleh, however, this personnel group will certainly be able to improve as the season progresses.

In the Jets vs Bengals matchup, our prediction is that the home side’s defence can make life difficult for Cincinnati.

Key Players:
QB: Joe Flacco
RB: Michael Carter
WR: Garrett Wilson
TE: Tyler Conklin
K: Greg Zuerlein

Cincinnati Bengals – Statistics & current form

Behind the Bengals lies an impressive last season that has left a lasting mark on the image of the franchise. Above all, quarterback Joe Burrow excelled with his offence. In the end, it was not enough for a Super Bowl triumph and yet observers could have got the impression during the summer break that the Bengals had eliminated the few weak points in the squad. Nevertheless, the start of the season failed thoroughly and Cincinnati is struggling with a “Super Bowl hangover”, which usually affects the winner of the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Offensive thaw?

In the aforementioned Super Bowl against the Los Angeles Rams, the decision was made in favour of the Rams primarily because of the Bengals’ weak offensive line. They were unable to protect Burrow properly, as they had done all season. That is why exactly this group of players was strengthened for the new season, at least on paper. However, in the first two games they did not really look more solid. Burrow was the quarterback in the league last season who was sacked most often by the opposing defence. That trend has continued seamlessly so far this year, much to his chagrin. In total, he has already been brought down 13 times by an opposing player.

The difference from last year, however, is that the Bengals’ offence has always been synonymous with spectacle and highlight plays. These highlights are currently missing because opposing defenses have adjusted better to them. This in turn means that the top pass receivers Chase, Higgins and Boyd no longer have this freedom, which makes the task for Burrow and the entire team much more difficult.

Now the New York Jets’ defence awaits the Cincinnati Bengals and we dare to predict that Jets head coach Saleh will set up his defence perfectly. The bottom line would be that the Bengals offense will once again struggle to move the ball consistently.

Key Players:
QB: Joe Burrow
RB: Joe Mixon
WR: Ja’marr Chase
TE: Hayden Hurst
K: Even McPherson

New York Jets – Cincinnati Bengals Head-to-head comparison / H2H record

Both franchises are based in the American Football Conference and have faced each other 28 times so far. Once (1983) even in the playoffs. Of the last five meetings since 2010, the Jets have won two. Robert Saleh has good memories of the last game between his Jets and Bengals. The odds were even more clearly in favour of Cincinnati back then in week eight. However, Saleh was able to record his second win as head coach at that time.

In this game 65 points were scored. However, it is unlikely that this will be repeated in week three. It would take an explosion of the visitors’ offense for that to happen, but that doesn’t seem realistic.

New York Jets – Cincinnati Bengals Tip

On both sides, the respective defence can take control of the game and that then speaks for few points. We especially believe that the Jets’ defence can limit the Bengals’ offence. Therefore, we choose the tip that the home side will allow less than 26 points to the visitors as our value recommendation. Sure, the Jets allowed 30 points against Cleveland, but the Cincinnati offense hasn’t played at the level needed to do that.

The most attractive recommendation, however, is to place a bet on the home win. New York showed tremendous comeback qualities against the Browns, while Cincinnati never really got into the game offensively at any point against Dallas. Between the Jets and Bengals, the odds on a Green Gang win are hugely appealing at 2.90 at the top.

Due to the above scenario, a high-scoring game is not expected and so the odds on relatively few points should be kept an eye on.