Will the Houston Texans win the wild card game against the Cincinnati Bengals?

Having won their final game against the Baltimore Ravens, who had been resting a portion of their starting players, the Cincinnati Bengals meet the Houston Texans in the first AFC Wild Card game of the 2012 season.

If you asked some Houston fans they might say that the Bengals would not have been able to win their final game had they not been resting their starters, then some Bengals fans might say they could have won regardless. Either way what ultimately matters are that the Bengals have made it to the post season and every game is now must win to continue.

Houston earned the 7th ranked offense spot during the season, with an 11th ranked passing game and 8th on the ground. Cincinnati on the other hand is ranked 22nd with their passing game ranked 17th and the ground game ranked 18th.

The Bengal’s defense is ranked 6th and is 7th against the pass and 12th against the running game. Houston’s defense is ranked 7th, 16th against the pass and 7th against the run.

Based upon simple stats it appears that even though the Bengals defense may be making the kinds of plays to get their offenses back on the field, but I am not so sure they have the kind of offense that can complete enough scoring drives to win this game.

Bengal’s quarterback Andy Dalton is completing around 62% of his passes, but he has been sacked 46 times and when you compare that to Texan’s quarterback Matt Schaub we see that he has completed 64% and has only been sacked 27 times. The offensive line of the Texans just does a much better job of pass protection and I think that will be reflected in Saturday’s game.

In the last few weeks the Bengals defense has been outscoring their offense and even though that has helped them win games recently, this may not work against the Texans.

Who are the favorites and what is the point spread on the Bengals and Texans game?

Most of the sports betting books have listed the Texans as favorites in this game. The point spread has been averaging in the 4 to 4.5 point range with Bet Online, our preferred bookie for football betting odds, at 4 points on Tuesday afternoon.

I really like the Texans to win, and although I do in fact think that Houston might actually come out and take an early lead and keep it the whole game, the Bengals faced a mid season uphill battle and they handled the fight well. They have a fair amount of momentum and have won their last 3 games where Houston has lost 2 of their last 3 games.

I think the Cincinnati defense will shake things up a bit and maybe even make the game a little closer then some fans and bettors are expecting. I do in fact side with the books on this game and think that Houston will win. I think they will cover this spread but I also think that the Bengals will give them a difficult game.

The preferred online sportsbook we recommend is Bet Online.