The Green Bay Packers and Cincinnati Bengals clash Friday night in a NFL Week 1 preseason game at Paycor Stadium. Let’s preview this game and give out a pick and prediction.

Green Bay Packers Betting Preview

The Packers are entering a new era as Arron Rodgers isn’t the quarterback for the first time since 2007. It’s now Jordan Love time, a guy who was drafted in the first round of 2020 as Rodger’s eventual replacement, and he has 83 career pass attempts with 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. The battle is now for backup QB, as Danny Etling, Sean Clifford and Alex McGough have all been getting reps in camp. The right tackle has a battle between Josh Nijman and Zach Tom. Nijman seems to be the favorite for the position, but Tom’s versatility makes him a candidate for right tackle or the center position. Defensively, the Packers need to find their safety replacement of Adrian Amos. There are a handful of quality players who could fill that role, starting with Jonathan Owens, Rudy Ford and Tarvarius Moore. The pressure is on Matt LaFleur to keep the ship afloat after missing the playoffs last year and now not having a HOF QB to lean on when the going gets tough.

Cincinnati Bengals Betting Preview

The Bengals are coming off back-to-back double-digit winning seasons and now look for 3 straight for the first time since 2013-15. The Bengals are one of the rare teams that knows what it has for the most part and is searching for depth to get over the hump. However, the injury to QB Joe Burrow means we’re going to see a ton of Jake Browning and the veteran Trevor Siemian. Both guys are fighting for the backup job, which is crucial given Burrow’s calf strain that’s expected to keep him out several weeks. The Bengals are also looking for another receiver to join Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd, which is why they drafted Charlie Jones and Andrei Iosivas back in April. Speaking of drafting, the Bengals have a punting competition between rookie Brad Robbins and Drue Chrisman. Robbins averaged 43 yards per punt at Michigan, and Chrisman didn’t end last year on a high note. Overall, the Bengals enter this season with a good idea of what they have on both sides of the ball. 

Trends 

The Packers are 0-5 ATS in their last 5 games on fieldturf and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games overall. The Bengals are 5-1-1 ATS in their last 7 home games and 21-5-1 ATS in their last 27 games overall. The under is 16-7-1 in Bengals last 24 games overall. The underdog is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 meetings. The road team is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 meetings.

Randy’s Pick

The Packers are probably getting the benefit of the doubt here because of the injury to Burrow and the fact the Bengals are going to ply a lot of Browning and Siemian. Still, I don’t like laying more than a field goal in meaningless preseason games, where these things are often wildly unpredictable. We’re getting 4.5 points with the Bengals at home. That’s a 1.5 points more than I’m usually comfortably laying in preseason action. Also, preseason or not and even with the injury to Burrow, the Bengals are still the better team from top to bottom. Give me the home dog.