Welcome to Monday Night Football
The Jacksonville Jaguars are set to take on the Buffalo Bills in New York on ESPN’s Monday Night Football at 7:30 PM ET. Meanwhile, ABC and ESPN+ will broadcast the Washington Commanders visit to the home of the Cincinnati Bengals, kicking off at 8:15 PM ET.
These are two games that are quite similar on the surface. The Jaguars and the Commanders have been frequently bad teams for years and are facing off against current powerhouses in the Bills and the Bengals. Smart money is going to be on the teams that have produced consistent quality football (injuries aside) for several seasons. That’s why I’m picking the Cincinnati Bengals and the Buffalo Bills to win their respective games tonight.
As always in our brave new world of expansive sports gambling, it is now easier to bet on games than to watch them. You can catch current odds on all NFL games for Week 1 here on FanDuel.
For the Bengals, the narrative of former LSU quarterbacks is cute, but it doesn’t cover the talent disparity on and off the field between the two teams. I’m not a Dan Quinn believer and the Bengals are in pretty good health heading into this game. Years ago, a Quinn-coached loss to a talented Bengals team would have been the perfect preview to what the Carolina Panthers will face going into their own Week 4 game against Cincinnati. Now, we’ll just be watching for an idea of the kind of offense Andy Dalton will need to keep pace with to be competitive next week.
For the Bills, they have been a consistently good team for years now. Trevor Lawrence, however, has not been the second coming of Andrew Luck that was once promised. He has had great games, and he may again tonight, but he has also had long stretches where he has disappeared. I won’t make any promises tonight, but I’d lean towards the consistent over the mercurial with my money every time.
As always, use this space to talk about the action as it unfolds.
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