Jacksonville Jaguars at Cincinatti Bengals Week 2 Best Bets

By John O’Leary

The 1-0 Jacksonville Jaguars head up to Cincinnati to face a 1-0 Bengals team in a game where both fan bases think their team has a shot to bring the win home. While the Jaguars had a dominating 26-10 home victory over the Carolina Panthers in Week 1, the Bengals seemed to find a way to sneak out a 1-point 17-16 road victory over the Cleveland Browns. The storylines are swirling around these two teams. The Jaguars have a conversation hotspot, WR/DB Travis Hunter, who is expected to have a heavy defensive workload this week against Tee Higgins and defending triple crown WR Jamarr Chase. The Bengals are still searching for ways to keep QB Joe Burrow upright.

Brian Thomas Jr Anytime TD +140 1u

While Thomas did have a disappointing performance in the season opener, bringing in one of his seven targets for 11 yards. This may be cause for concern for some, but with Travis Hunter playing significant snaps on offense and leading the team in targets, the ball just didn’t make it into the hands of Thomas. Despite the lackluster receiving day, Thomas was able to find the end zone on a well-designed end-around run that led to his first touchdown of the season.

With the daunting matchup of facing Jamarr Chase and Tee Higgins this week, Jaguars Coach Liam Coen has said, “It’ll likely be an uptick” for Hunter on the defensive end. If the snap count split last week was any indicator, we may not be seeing much of the 2024 Heisman Trophy winner on offense. Coen also made sure to mention that he wants Thomas involved early and often in games.

With the target share that Thomas did receive and the potential sporadic absence of Hunter on the other side, Thomas could be in for a nice day and also back-to-back touchdown-scoring weeks.

I like this as a 1-unit play.

Jaguars +3 ATS +100 1u

The Jaguars were in control of the majority of the game last week against the Panthers, and if the Jaguars hadn’t committed 11 penalties for 93 yards, the gap between the two teams may have been considerably larger. Even though the Panthers’ defense isn’t the most daunting task in the league for any offense, the Jaguars had 200 yards on the ground and totaled 378 yards of offense. They left several chunk plays on the field with the long miss to Brian Thomas Jr. and the incredible play by Panthers CB Jaycee Horn to rob Travis Hunter of what could’ve been an 83-yard touchdown. Between the playcalling of Liam Coen and the firepower that the Jaguars’ offense has, it is clear that they have the capability to be very effective week in and week out against most defenses in the league.

The Jaguars’ defense was only able to sack Panthers QB Bryce Young one time, but that isn’t to say they weren’t effective at pressuring him. The Jaguars pressured Young a total of 10 times and had 3 QB hits in the contest, and with the less mobile Joe Burrow up this week, the Jaguars should be able to consistently be in the face of the Bengals’ signal caller. The Browns were able to affect Burrow throughout the game and, at one point in the third quarter, killed an entire Bengals offensive drive by sacking Burrow on three consecutive plays.

While the Jaguars’ defense will have a tough task facing the firepower that the Bengals offense holds, Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars offense have the firepower to keep up if this game does turn into a shootout.

I think the Jaguars ML has life at +155, but if we have a chance to grab a free three points and get it at plus money, I swing more towards the Jaguars spread in this game. I like this as a 1-unit play.

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