The Cincinnati Bengals travel to Miami to see how much desire they have to play spoiler to the Dolphins, as Week 13 NFL sports betting action continues Sunday. Our expert advice looks at the game from an NFL betting odds perspective and offers you advice and NFL picks for this Sunday’s AFC matchup.
| Game: Cincinnati Bengals (2-8-1) at Miami Dolphins (7-4) Location: Hard Rock Stadium Time: 1 p.m. ET Television: CBS |
The Bengals continued their Bengalian ways Sunday giving bettors fits with their inconsistent performances. In this case, they were 6½-point underdogs to the New York Giants, who had overwhelming support in the betting markets. The Bengals having just lost their starting quarterback Joe Burrow, had to put new-signee Brandon Allen under center.
In an effort aided mainly by knocking out the Giants’ quarterback and a 103-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, the Bengals managed to hang on for a two-point loss despite being mangled on the stat sheet. Given the opportunity to mount a comeback in the last 57 seconds, Cincinnati fumbled the ball.
The Miami Dolphins traveled to New Jersey Sunday. They went to MetLife Stadium. Something resembling a football game took place. It was a game that looked a lot like the previous match between the teams, in which Miami shut out the Jets, 24-0. This time, the Jets couldn’t get out of their own way once again but did manage to open the scoring with a field goal to prevent the embarrassment of a shutout, at least. Clawing back from that 0-3 deficit, Miami scored enough times that they began to tire of it, and more than covered the -7½-point spread.
NFL Betting Lines
Moneyline: Cincinnati Bengals +450 (2-8-1) | Miami Dolphins -600 (7-4)
The Dolphins opened as a significant favorite but early bettors had no interest in taking the Bengals. On the moneyline, Miami opened -550 and was bet up to -600. Cincinnati returns from the previous game down another wide receiver in Auden Tate, and are now very eagerly awaiting the return of Mike Thomas. (Check with our NFL injury report for the latest.)
Miami, on the other hand, is still in the enviable position of squeezing every drop of Fitzmagic they can out of Ryan Fitzpatrick while waiting for Tua Tagovailoa’s thumb to heal. The price is steep, but if you think the Dolphins have better than an 86% chance to win, this is the only way we could lean. The underdog price on the Bengals doesn’t have enough value to consider.
Pick: Miami Dolphins to win
Point Spread: Cincinnati Bengals +11½ (7-3-1) | Miami Dolphins -11½ (8-3)
Our best guess is the Bengals won’t be producing a practice week and game-time roster that inspires sharps to start grabbing +11½-point bets from the sportsbook on Sunday, and we’d lean towards laying the double digits here. The line opened -11 and got bumped up to 11½ after initial team reports this week.
Pick: Miami Dolphins -11½
Over/Under 43 points
Breaking with the conventional wisdom that says favorites and overs go together, as do dogs and unders, we’ll play the under 43 in spite of also laying the points. Both teams come in wounded more on the offensive side of the ball, and we’d expect a perfunctory win similar to the one Miami hung on Jacksonville or the Jets earlier this season.
