Bengals (1PM ET FOX) – Let’s go double barrel action in the 1PM ET window when the Carolina Panthers take on the Cincinnati Bengals at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.

I can’t see the Bengals starting 0-4, I also can’t see the Panthers winning again as a decent underdog with how banged up they are so I’m going to lay what I consider to be a reasonable number with the visitors here.  Carolina is already without Adam Thielen who was a key target for Andy Dalton last week as Dalton threw at him five times and Thielen caught three balls for 40 yards and a touchdown.  That production is replaceable, but Thielen is a great possession guy that moves the chains and creates opportunities for others so his absence is going to put more responsibility on Diontae Johnson who is battling a groin injury and likely not 100 percent.  Carolina ran the ball effectively last week with Chuba Hubbard going for 114 yards and tacking on another 55 receiving out of the backfield but that will be more difficult here with Carolina down multiple offensive linemen.  I do like this Carolina team a lot better with Dalton under center but this Panthers team is still bad and I don’t think they are built to overcome these types of injuries here.

Cincinnati is off to an 0-3 start but it’s not something we haven’t seen before. The Bengals looked terrible after two games last season but finished one game away from the Super Bowl and the offense got healthier and got going in the loss to the Commanders last week.  All the talk this week is about how Jayden Daniels torched the Bengals on Monday Night Football but no one is talking about how the Cincinnati offense was finally back to full strength and the Bengals put up 456 yards of offense with 312 through the air.  At some point you just have to tip the cap to Jayden Daniels playing a near perfect game but Dalton won’t be able to come close to that as he doesn’t have the ability to run the ball like Daniels did.  Cincinnati should easily move the ball again here against Carolina as the Panthers have one of the worst defenses in the NFL.  Joe Burrow will have all day to throw and I don’t see the Bengals taking their foot off the gas at any point considering how impossible it would be to come back from a loss here. 

Cincinnati will be better against the run than the Raiders banged up front was last week which likely forces Dalton and the Panthers into some passing downs here. That’s where I think you see a difference from last week, Dalton can’t move around like Daniels can which will negate some of the issues the Bengals had defensively against the Commanders while Dalton is also likely to be under more pressure due to the Panthers inability to run the ball effectively with multiple starting offensive linemen out for this game.  Cincinnati’s pass rush hasn’t been good on paper but some of that has to do with the fact the Patriots ran the ball basically every down in the opener and the last two weeks the Bengals have had to chase around Mahomes and Daniels.  Neither will be the case here, Dalton can’t move laterally like Mahomes and Daniels and the Panthers won’t be able to run consistently like the Patriots due to their banged up offensive line.  The Commanders didn’t run it effectively last week but were bailed out by Daniels going nuclear, that’s just not going to be the case here. 

I’ve never been a big fan of laying this number on the road but Cincinnati has virtually every edge here.  On top of that most of North Carolina is in a State of Emergency from Helene so who knows what type of issues that’s caused for Panthers players.  It probably means a bunch of fans who would normally make the trip won’t or maybe some of those tickets get into the hands of Bengals fans. No matter how you slice it this should be a Bengals blowout in Charlotte this afternoon.  Play on Bengals -4.5 (-110) for 4% (or 4 units)