Sean Alvarez Picks, Betting Predictions, and Capper Bio

The Bengals offense has been talented for a bit now but has been riddled with injuries that kept  their talent on the field at the same time. Joe Burrow is surrounded by familiar faces including Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins at receiver and Chase Brown at running back with Samaje Perine backing him up. This is an electric offense that can put up points but they have gotten into shootouts as their defense has lacked at times. The Cincinnati defense did lose Trey Hendrickson but they added Jonathan Allen and Dexter Lawrence to sure up the defensive front and Bryan Cook to anchor the secondary.

The Buccaneers offense is largely unchanged from last season except for the departure of Mike Evans who is a big role to fill as they look at Emeka Egbuka to help out in his 2nd season. While there is talent on this squad like Jalen McMillan, Chris Godwin is not getting any younger and Evans was sort of a safety valve for Baker Mayfield when he escaped the pocket as Evans has a clear size advantage against secondaries. This is a young defense who is looking at 3 rookies to start on Week 1 and while they are talented, it is a big step up in speed and talent while facing the Bengals offense.

I think the Bengals get out early against a young Tampa Bay defense and forces Baker to play from behind without someone like Mike Evans to throw the ball up to when under pressure. I will play the Bengals through -4.5.