The Bengals begin the season on the road at Cleveland next Sunday kickoff is at 1:00pm. The biggest question probably for the opening weekend is will Joe Burrow play? The Bengals are being very coy about it and that is not a bad thing. Of course, for his career Burrow is 1-4 all-time. It would be nice the Bengals could start the season off with a win, especially with the Ravens at home in week 2. Two questions I see are important for the Bengals to start off this season. 1) If Burrow does play, what kind of protection will he get we have seen especially the last two seasons if he has time he is as good as anybody in the league. 2) This is probably the most unknown is how will the secondary perform. The Bengals lost Bates, Bell, and Apple. They signed safety Nick Scott from the Rams and CB Sidney Jones from the Jags. 

I personally have been looking forward to this season starting on Jan. 30, 2023. This I feel is a big year for the Bengals where they still have their main weapons on offense for this season. Things start to get tricky after this one. I look for big things from my Bengals, but I always do. It is just so much fun now after all of the years of mediocrity or just bad football. I'm calling the Bengals over the Browns 28-17. What say you guys? Go Bengals! WHO DEY!!

I can't imagine Burrow not playing in this game.

24-14 Bengals

Burrow will play, Browns by a slight margin.  Just my gut feeling.

5 hours ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

The Bengals begin the season on the road at Cleveland next Sunday kickoff is at 1:00pm. The biggest question probably for the opening weekend is will Joe Burrow play? The Bengals are being very coy about it and that is not a bad thing. Of course, for his career Burrow is 1-4 all-time. It would be nice the Bengals could start the season off with a win, especially with the Ravens at home in week 2. Two questions I see are important for the Bengals to start off this season. 1) If Burrow does play, what kind of protection will he get we have seen especially the last two seasons if he has time he is as good as anybody in the league. 2) This is probably the most unknown is how will the secondary perform. The Bengals lost Bates, Bell, and Apple. They signed safety Nick Scott from the Rams and CB Sidney Jones from the Jags. 

I personally have been looking forward to this season starting on Jan. 30, 2023. This I feel is a big year for the Bengals where they still have their main weapons on offense for this season. Things start to get tricky after this one. I look for big things from my Bengals, but I always do. It is just so much fun now after all of the years of mediocrity or just bad football. I'm calling the Bengals over the Browns 28-17. What say you guys? Go Bengals! WHO DEY!!

Burrow is going to play and going into this season this by far should be the best starting line he ever has had in front of him.
 

On defense CB Sidney Jones who they signed in the off-season was cut and didn’t make the 53 man roster. They did sign him back to the practice squad though. Corner wise I love where they are at now. Awuzie is back and as long as he is back to his old self, he is one of the most underrated corners in the league. Then CTB  is at the other corner after a solid rookie year, and Mike Hilton may be the best slot corner in the NFL. Then behind them they have DJ Turner who they drafted in the second round, and DJ Ivey who they drafted in the 7th round and may be a steal after a great camp and preseason. He is the reason Sidney Jones didn’t make the team. At safety they will be faster and more athletic than last year, with that said as you mentioned will be an unknown until they play in real games. Dax Hill covers a lot of ground with his speed, however Bates and Bell were very experienced and smart. So I’m sure there will be a learning curve. 
 

This will be a tough game though as the Browns do have one of the best rosters in the NFL too. To me I think it comes down to QB and we have the better one. Plus I don’t think Watson will ever get back to the level he was at a few years ago where he truly was playing great. So I think the Bengals win in close one. 
 

Bengals 24

Browns 20

Bengals will boat race them. 21 pt margin is my guess.

Edited September 5, 20233 yr by theguru

Browns 35 Bengals 21

Browns have a nasty dline that will the Bengals oline fits. Burrow will be scrambling all day! Chubb and Watson have a great day!

 

A good thing is that Chidobe Awuzie is now expected to play against the Browns. It will be his first gave back since tearing his ACL in week 8 last season at Cleveland. 

I think smart people will be picking the Browns due to limited practice time for Burrow.  That being said, I'm taking the Bengals by 10 - cause I'm not smart.

The Bengals are a 2.5 favorite. 

I am concerned this could be like our week one loss to the Steelers last year.  In that game we weren't ready to play and the Steelers were.

I can see this game either being real close or the Bengals winning by two or three touchdowns.

Who Dey!!

I do not have a good feeling about this game. Sure hope I'm wrong.

I'm staying away in regards to gambling.

22 hours ago, theguru said:

The Jaguars at 13-4 and the top seed is a hot take for sure. There's no legit weapons on offense outside of the QB (and he ain't Mahomes or Burrow) and the defense can't be trusted to carry them to victories consistently. 

Just now, burreaux said:

The Jaguars at 13-4 and the top seed is a hot take for sure. There's no legit weapons on offense outside of the QB (and he ain't Mahomes or Burrow) and the defense can't be trusted to carry them to victories consistently. 

I went to school in Jacksonville for awhile and have always had a soft spot for the Jags but they are on a "prove it" contract with me.