Patriots open as 8 point favorites to beat Bengals in Week 6

BookMaker.eu has put out the opening odds for Week 6 in the NFL and after the Patriots' dominating win over the Browns and the Bengals' blowout loss at the hands of the Cowboys, oddsmakers are favoring the Patriots with a heavy hand.

The opening spread has the New England Patriots as 8-point favorites to beat the Bengals at home in Tom Brady’s first game back from suspension. The point total is set at 47.

In Week 5, Brady returned from his four-game Deflategate suspension and threw 28 completed passes on 40 attempts for 406 yards, 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. He was sacked once and had a quarterback rating of 127.7. That rating is actually Brady's highest since Week 8 of the 2015 season when the Patriots routed the Dolphins in a 36-7 win on Thursday Night Football. The Patriots beat the winless Browns 33-13 and it wasn’t even that close.

The Bengals had a game more similar to the Browns than the Patriots in Week 5. Andy Dalton had 29 completions on 41 attempts (one more than Brady in each regard) and totaled 269 yards and 2 touchdowns for a 104.6 quarterback rating. Dalton was sacked four times as the offensive line played poorly from start to finish. The Bengals didn’t score until the fourth quarter, and similarly to the Browns, the 28-14 final score looks better for the Bengals than the game actually was.

It will certainly be a long afternoon in New England if the Bengals don’t fix many of the issues that plagued them in Dallas, including a poor third down conversion rating (a trend all season now) and a complete inability to stop the run on defense.

"You lost and you’ve got to put your head back down, go to New England and play your best football," Bengals offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth said after Sunday’s loss. "That should be the only thing we’re worried about. Anything else is not really important at this time."

The Bengals will try to prove the oddsmakers (and their growing group of doubters) wrong when they travel to New England in Week 6.

Opening odds for Week 6 in the NFL after Sunday’s games:

Bengals at Patriots (-8, 47)

Steelers (-7.5, 48) at Dolphins

Jaguars at Bears (-1.5, 47)

49ers at Bills (-7.5, 45.5)

Rams at Lions (-3, 43.5)

Eagles at Redskins (-1.5, 46.5)

Chiefs at Raiders (-1.5, 48)

Falcons at Seahawks (-5.5, 46)

Colts at Texans (-3.5, 46)