WK 4 THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL: MIAMI DOLPHINS AT CINCINNATI BENGALS

BY ADAM GREENE

It’s a Thursday Night Football game on Amazon Prime with plenty of intrigue as we close out September. The red-hot Miami Dolphins travel to Paycor Stadium to take on the defending AFC Champion Cincinnati Bengals.

The Dolphins are tying to pull a 2021 Bengals this season, coming out of the also-rans of the year before to claim the top spot in the AFC. Miami has a distinctly tougher road as the entire conference has improved.

This is not a storied rivalry. Thursday night’s contest will be just the 26^th time the two teams have faced off, with the Dolphins holding a decisive 18-7 lead in the head-to-head.

They last met two seasons ago on Dec. 6, 2020 with Miami claiming a 19-7 victory at Hard Rock Stadium. Tua Tagovailoa threw for 296 yards and a touchdown in the win. Myles Gaskin rushed 21 times for 90 yards and Mike Gesicki caught nine passes for 88 yards and a score. In the loss, Brandon Allen (replacing Joe Burrow who was injured earlier in the season), threw for 153 yards, one TD and one pick. Drew Sample caught seven balls for 49 yards and Tee Higgins hauled in five for 56.

MIAMI DOLPHINS AT CINCINNATI BENGALS (-4, O/U: 47)

Location: Paycor Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio

Broadcast: Amazon Prime Video

Kickoff: Sep. 29, 8:15 p.m. EST

MIAMI DOLPHIINS (3-0)

The Dolphins remained one of the NFL’s only two undefeated teams with a shocking 21-19 upset win over the Buffalo Bills last Sunday that had Bills offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey rampaging through the press box. Tagovailoa finished 13 of 18 for 186 yards and a TD. He was sacked once. The Dolphins rushed for 41 yards as a team, but Jaylen Waddle caught four passes for 102 yards.

The defense sacked Josh Allen four times, forced a fumble and held Buffalo to just 115 total yards rushing.

CINCINNATI BENGALS (1-2)

Cincinnati finally got in the win columnt by delivering a solid 27-12 beat down of the New York Jets on the road. Burrow ended the game 23 of 36 for 275 yards and three touchdowns. He was sacked twice. The Bengals were held to just 69 total yards on the ground. Tyler Boyd caught four balls for 105 yards and a touchdown. Higgins hauled in five passes for 93 yards.

The defense sacked Joe Flacco four times, picked him off twice and forced two fumbles. The Jets gained just 76 yards on the ground.

THE PICK

There’s going to be a lot of well-deserved love heaped upon Miami this week for good reason after a perfect start and massive upset over an AFC East rival. Cincy avoided a catastrophic 0-3 start with the Jets, but 1-3 after losing this game won’t be much better. The heat is still on the Bengals, but knocking off the Dolphins in prime time with a solid Burrow (and offensive line) performance would do a lot to cool that off. Bengals 24, Dolphins 23

Last week

Straight up: 10-6

Against the spread: 8-8

Season

Straight up: 27-20-1

Against the spread: 23-25

Follow Adam Greene on Twitter @TheFirstMan.

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