Arizona Cardinals vs. Cincinnati Bengals Pick 10/6/19

Arizona Cardinals (0-3-1 SU, 2-2 ATS) vs. Cincinnati Bengals (0-4 SU, 2-2 ATS)

NFL Football Week 5

Date/Time: Sunday – October 6th – 1:00pm EST

Where: Paul Brown Stadium – Cincinnati, Ohio

TV: FOX

Point Spread: AZ +3/CIN -3 (Bovada)

Over/Under Total: 47.5

BATTLE OF THE DEFEATED….ARIZONA AND CINCINNATI

This Sunday, the winless Arizona Cardinals will travel east to take on the also winless Cincinnati Bengals. The Cardinals come into this game at 0-3-1 while the Bengals are 0-4. With that said, the perception would tell you that the Cardinals are actually trending in the right direction with a rookie QB and a somewhat improving team while the Bengals are just…to be honest, they are just TRASH. Maybe I should not be so hard on Cincy, but it just feels like these guys have wasted so much talent over the last 15-20 years…how is this for a factoid: Tim Tebow has more playoff wins as a starting QB than Andy Dalton does. (Mic Drop).

Although in my opinion, the Cincinnati Bengals have been the bigger disappointment, they come into this game as a three-point favorite over the Cardinals. Of course being an AFC/NFC game these two teams do not face off often. This will be just the sixth time these two teams faced off since 2000 and just in case you think history matters, which it doesn’t, against the spread, Cincinnati has covered three of the last five games, and if go back to 1997, they have split 3-3….against the spread I mean. This Sunday, Cincinnati is a three-point favorite at home. The line opened with the Bengals as a 4.5 point fave, but the amount of action on the Cards had lowered it to a three-point line.

HOW THE PUBLIC IS BETTING ARIZONA AND CINCINNATI:

Again, the line started with the Bengals as a 4.5 point favorite over Arizona, but as the action poured in on the Cardinals, the line lowered to three points. As of early Wednesday morning, even at a three-point spread, over 55% of the action was on the Cardinals to cover on the road. Typically I look at public action as a reason to fade a team, but in this case, Vegas shifted the line accordingly. This tells me that the bookmakers also have no team they like, and there is no “bookie pick” in this one. This game and this line is a complete toss-up. With that said, I am doing something I rarely do…I am going with the public. We have two bad teams here, and any points I am GIVEN in a game like this, I will take whatever is given to me. I like Arizona on the road PLUS the points. I think this game will come down to the very end, but I do not have enough confidence in Cincinnati to give up points.

WHY ARIZONA WILL COVER THE SPREAD IN CINCINNATI:

Games like this do not need stats, numbers, trends, etc. to make a pick. We have two bad teams, two teams that have not found a way to enter the win column in 2019. With that said, and I may get blasted for saying this, but the Cincinnati Bengals MAY BE almost as bad as the Miami Dolphins. Through four games, the Bengals have been beat in all of them, and to be honest, with the exception of the season opener against the Seahawks, they really have not been competitive. Statistically speaking, Cincinnati also ranks well below the Cardinals in many categories. In total offensive yards and scoring offense, Cincinnati ranks below the Cardinals, and on the defensive side of the ball, it may seem like Cincy has the slight edge, but to be honest, both defenses are pretty equal.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN COME SUNDAY:

I am not going to sit here and say that Arizona travels into Cincinnati and gets an easy win. This game will be sloppy, mid scoring somewhere in the 20s each, and very close. I can just never take a team that after 25% of the season is complete, that has not found a way to get one win to GIVE UP points. I am basing this pick on just basic logic. We have no concrete stat, no year to year history, this is not a divisional game…to me it is just a weird game to predict, and in games like that, I jump ALL OVER the team GETTING points. Someone will win this game 23-21…who? I don’t know, nor do I care. Arizona will keep it close enough to cover the spread on the road.

Bob’s Pick to Cover the Point Spread: I’m wagering on the Arizona Cardinals to go into Cinci and cover the spread vs. the Bungles. Make the Cards a +23 underdog or the Bengals a +17 dog by inserting either into a MASSIVE 20 point NFL teaser at one of the internet’s oldest bookmakers: Wagerweb!