Wild-Card Weekend: Picks Against the Spread

Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

Chargers @ Bengals -6.5 — O/U 46.5

I expect this game to have the largest margin of victory this weekend… and it has a chance for plenty of scoring. Phillip Rivers has had a very good season. His resurgence can be attributed to confidence in the new head coach, WR Kennan Allen, and TE Antonio Gates’ return to health.

These teams met earlier this year with the Bengals earning a close victory on the road. The Bengals have been very good at home. In their last five home games the Bengals have put up 49, 41, 42, 42, and 34 points respectively. This has me wondering about the O/U total for this game. One could argue that the Bengals alone will cover that number, if their past performance at home is any indication.

I see this game being a blowout victory for the Bengals. The only way it stays close is if Andy Dalton makes more mistakes than TD’s. I don’t see that happening. I’ll play the Bengals and lay the -6.5…Play the under 46.5, because the talk of the week will be how bad the Bengals defense beat the Chargers up!