So Thursday night didn’t go too badly, a Delanie Walker td would of landed some nice profit but it wasn’t to be. Demarco Murray got his usual td, if you can get near Evens on him to score anytime in any matchup then jump on it. The Titans O-line was impressive and he and Henry dominated most of the match for the Titans. Despite the jags being woeful for 3 quarters Marquis Lee should of hit his yards but dropped 2 or 3 easily catchable passes in the second half as Bortles did his garbage time usual, so we finished just over 5 pts down on the night.
Saturday sees the conclusion of the London games for the year and it should be the best game of the three. I am a Bengals fan and I’m going, but i’ll do my best to give an impartial look at the game itself and try and pick out some nice picks for us. It’s on Sky this week and bbc red button if you want to watch it. I think it’s likely that there will be more Redskins fans there as they’ve got a larger fan Base in the UK than Cincy but we’ll be making some noise still #WhoDeyInTheUK
Let’s start with the Redskins. They’re going to lose. There’s no one worth talking about, they’re all useless. Nah, they’re a decent team led by Kirk ‘you like that’ Cousins. After a slow start to the season starting 0-2 they reeled off 4 consecutive hard fought wins before losing to the Lions last week with a couple of mins left. They started the season looking like they’d have one of the best passing attacks in the league after drafting Josh Doctson to add to Reed at tight end and WRs Pierre Garcon , deep threat DeSean Jackson and slot guy Jameison Crowder. Unfortunately for the skins Doctson has been ruled out for the year so far and it looks like he’ll be out for the remainder. Crowder has stepped up and quickly become the most used target, that’s further increased in recent weeks with Jordan Reed out with a concussion, he has travelled to London but it’s not confirmed he’ll be playing. if he’s out then Vernon Davis will continue at TE for them, he’s done well filling in for Reed and should have a good match again in a decent matchup for tight ends. Running back is a bit of a committee for them in recent weeks, Matt Jones was the starter, however he has fumbleitus, and as it happens has now been ruled out through injury. His replacement seem like it will R Kelley, he’s the basically a like for like replacement, while Chris Thompson will likely be kept as a pass-catching back. Although Kelley is the bookies favourite to score for the ‘skins, I actually prefer Thompson, the Bengals aren’t great against pass catchers coming from the backfield.
The Bengals, where to start, as a fan you always see the negatives, they’ve been relatively poor on both sides of the ball this season, their defensive line has been dominated consistently while certain players in the secondary seem to have been targeted as weak links (Adam ‘don’t call me pacman’ Jones). Their offensive line as well has struggled to provide any gaps for Jeremy Hill who is actually running quite well again, he gashed the Browns last week for 168 yards and a touch from just 9 carries, he did however pick up another knock so I’ll have to keep an eye on his status, he does seem likely to be a go. I expect him to start though. If he’s limited then that will mean an increase for Gio Bernard. I personally think he should have more running opportunities anyway as he seems the better back most of the time, even if he doesn’t take the lead role he will be involved a lot as a pass catching back. The Redskins concede a ton of rushing yards so these two should be the main workhorses. The passing game has come on recently and they seem to be getting people other than the brilliant AJ green involved. He’s currently third in receiving yards and he should be up there, he’s one of the best in the league, of Josh Norman doesn’t clear concussion protocol then he will feast, as of Saturday night there’s no further news on Norman, even if he does play, Green will still get his yardage, if he’s out he’ll get double. They have been using Brandon LaFell in the red zone more recently, he’s got 3 tds in his last 3 games, so it would be no surprise to see him get in again. However last week they welcomed back last seasons top td scorer Tyler Eifert, if they can get him back to fitness their red zone woes will disappear, and they have said this week that he’s closer to game fitness. Tyler Boyd deserves at least a mention but hasn’t done anywhere near as much as I’d of thought after a good pre season, coach Lewis doesn’t generally involve rookies so it shouldn’t of been such a big surprise. Andy Dalton has actually been very good at QB this season, and may finally have shaken off the criticism that he constantly receives. it would be lovely if they (and he) could finally win in the post season, but currently they’re in a battle to even reach the playoffs. They should still finish second in the division behind the Steelers so it looks like a wildcard will be their likely route. If at all.
For the record, I think that Green will beat his yards target (especially if Norman is out), but it’s set to 94.5 and I don’t go near anything that’s set that close to 100. Crowder could be a decent shout for anytime TD if Reed is out, but it’s looking more and more like he’ll be playing unfortunately. I would once again tell people to ignore the FootyAccums specials. They work for the bookies, you can’t trust anything they post as they’ll make money on any losses through “their picks” also, they’re crap, as always. The Bengals SHOULD win this one, they’re the better team. However as a fan, I don’t want to be the one to jinx them, so can’t really go too big on them. The Bengals are also pretty solid at scoring in every quarter, unfortunately the bookies seem to know this and their odds are very tight again, especially with it being a new experience them coming across the pond, which usually means teams get a slow start due to it feeling like 930am their time.
Green any time – 21/20 (365) – 5 pts, Thompson anytime – 9/4 (Ladbrokes) – 2pts, Bengals by 7-12 points- 5/1 (365) – 2pts
Tyler Boyd is worth a little mention just because of the variance in his odds, he’s 13/2 at PaddyPower compared to as low as 13/5 in other places. I don’t think he’ll get into the end zone, but always good to point out the difference in odds.
TouchdownTips 
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