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NFL Preseason-Week 1

Jets and Bengals set to tee it up this Friday on the NFL Network

New York head coach Rex Ryan has taken a much lower key to the start of this year’s preseason as opposed to his brash predictions of Super Bowl championships in the pass. After his team woefully underperformed last season with a straight-up record of 8-8 that kept it out of the postseason for the first time since he took over the reins, he appears content to let the Jets do all of their talking on the field.

The biggest story with this team by far was the arrival of Tim Tebow from Denver in an offseason trade. While Mark Sanchez has clearly been named the starting quarterback come opening day, Tebow will try and work himself into the lineup as much possible, either through the Wildcat formation or as a possible running back or receiver. How all this plays-out remains to be seen, but at the very least it should be entertaining.

Cincinnati exceeded everyone’s expectations last season by securing a wildcard spot in the playoffs behind rookie quarterback Andy Dalton and rookie wide receiver AJ Green with a SU record of 9-7. The big question heading into this season, is will this duo be able to take the next step to help the team compete with the likes of Pittsburgh and Baltimore for the AFC North crown?

We probably will not get to see too much of them in this game as they will limited in their playing time, but they will get a chance to try and move the ball against the Jets’ first-team defense in the first quarter. While Dalton and Green turned some heads on offense, the real strength of this Bengals’ team is an emerging defense that ended the regular season ranked seventh in total yards allowed.

Prediction

This game should be a defensive battle from the start that sets itself up as a solid play on the ‘under’. If you want to go with a side in this game, stick with Cincinnati to pull-out a win at home in a close one. Cincinnati 16 New York 13