Around the AFC North

Bengals an early favorite over Ravens in NFL Week 1 odds

Cincinnati is favored to win at home by a narrow margin over Baltimore in Week 1.

By Jason Marcum@marcum89 May 6, 2017, 10:30am EDT

With the NFL Draft having passed, the upcoming season can’t get here soon enough.

To help pass the time, Bovada has released an early set of game lines for the Week 1 matchups. That includes the Cincinnati Bengals’ opener vs the Baltimore Ravens. Right off the bat, we’re getting a great AFC North rivalry game in Paul Brown Stadium, and it promises to be a high competitive matchup.

At least, that’s what the odds indicate as the Bengals are a 1.5-point home favorite over the Ravens in this matchup. Given how both teams did in 2016 combined with neither team making any earth-shattering offseason acquisitions, it’s fair to think whoever the home team in this game is should be the favorite.

If this game were in Baltimore, Cincinnati would probably be the 1.5-point underdog. Baltimore came close to winning the AFC North last season, but a narrow Week 16 loss in Pittsburgh eliminated them from playoff contention, and they had nothing to play for in Week 17 as Cincinnati won that matchup with ease, 27-10.

When the Bengals played in Baltimore, the Ravens came away with a 19-14 win thanks to a late strip sack of Andy Dalton in the red zone. Neither of these games had A.J. Green, as he was recovering from a hamstring strain that effectively ended his season after Week 11.

Dalton still managed to put up respectable numbers, combining for 509 yards and two scores vs no interceptions on 44of-76 passing (58%). Joe Flacco was his average self, posting 501 yards and one score vs two interceptions on 57-of-85 passing (67%).

Here are all of the NFL Week 1 lines:

Kansas City Chiefs +7½

New England Patriots -7½

Atlanta Falcons -6½

Chicago Bears +6½

Philadelphia Eagles +2½

Washington Redskins -2½

Pittsburgh Steelers -9

Cleveland Browns +9

Baltimore Ravens +1½

Cincinnati Bengals -1½

Arizona Cardinals +2½