Quick Thursday Night Prediction — Week 3 Review Coming Before Sunday

I almost forgot to do it, but here’s my prediction for tonight’s Thursday Night Football game. I’ll write up a review of Week 3 with my takeaways either tomorrow or Saturday.

Miami Dolphins (1-2, 1-2 against the spread) at Cincinnati Bengals (1-2, 0-3):
Spread: Bengals favored by 7.5
Over/under: 46.5
My prediction: Let me make this clear: the Dolphins stink. They’re coming off a week in which they needed overtime to beat the woeful Browns at home. But should the Bengals really be laying more than a touchdown against anyone at this point? They’ve lost consecutive games, although the games came against Pittsburgh and Denver, much stronger opposition than Miami. Cincinnati’s run defense is very strong, thanks to Vincent Rey (second-best run-stop percentage among outside linebackers this year) and stud linemen Carlos Dunlap and Geno Atkins. Against a woeful run-blocking team without running back Arian Foster, the Dolphins are going to be very one-dimensional tonight. Can the Bengals stop the pass? Well, the Broncos destroyed them through the air, but the Dolphins are not the Broncos and I think last week was a bit fluky anyway. Besides, the Bengals rank first in the NFL in DVOA against #1 receivers, which means they’ve been getting roasted mainly be secondary options on teams deeper than Miami. On the other side of the ball, the Bengals should be able to move the chains between the 20s. The question is: can they get the ball to their playmakers (cough cough A.J. Green cough cough) in the redzone and make this a blowout? I still have faith in Cincinnati, so I’ll take them here in a must-win game. Bengals win 28-13.
Bengals cover
Under