Browns vs. Bengals Thursday Night Football Betting Preview

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Special to Outkick The Coverage from OddsShark.com

With a perfect straight-up record and an almost-unblemished against-the-spread mark on the season, the Cincinnati Bengals will be looking to stay on a roll on Thursday night as they play host to the state-rival Cleveland Browns as double-digit betting favorites.

The Bengals are listed as consensus 11-point betting favorites against the Browns at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com, and they're coming off a victory against another division rival after topping the Pittsburgh Steelers 16-10 on the road last week as small 1-point underdogs.

Cincinnati has already knocked off Oakland, San Diego, Baltimore, Kansas City, Seattle, and Buffalo along with the Steelers this season, with their lone ATS setback a push result against the Seahawks when they won 27-24 as a 3-point favorite back on October 11.

The Browns, meanwhile, are just 2-6 SU and 3-4-1 ATS on the season, falling 34-20 at home to the Arizona Cardinals last week as a 7-point underdog. Cleveland hasn't won since October 11, when they beat the Ravens, and their only other victory this year came against Tennessee on September 20; the Ravens and Titans are a combined 3-12 this season.

Cleveland starting quarterback Josh McCown is dealing with a rib injury this week and has been ruled out for Thursday night; the team will start Johnny Manziel against the Bengals.

Last year the Bengals and Browns split their two meetings both SU and ATS, with Cincinnati 6-4 SU but just 4-5-1 ATS in their last 10 matchups dating back to 2010 according to the OddsShark NFL Database. Cleveland is 7-3 ATS in its last 10 games as a road underdog, and 9-1-1 ATS in its last 11 games as an underdog against the Bengals. Cincinnati is 0-7 ATS in its last seven games when favored by 11 points or more.

The OVER/UNDER for Thursday is set at 45.5 points. The Bengals and Browns are a combined 12-3 on the totals this season. The UNDER, however, paid out in both games between Cincinnati and Cleveland last season, and in three of their last four meetings.

Kickoff for the game on Thursday night is set for 8:25pm ET at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati. Check out the complete Browns vs. Bengals matchup report at OddsShark.com.

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Clay Travis is the founder of the fastest growing national multimedia platform, OutKick, that produces and distributes engaging content across sports and pop culture to millions of fans across the country. OutKick was created by Travis in 2011 and sold to the Fox Corporation in 2021. One of the most electrifying and outspoken personalities in the industry, Travis hosts OutKick The Show where he provides his unfiltered opinion on the most compelling headlines throughout sports, culture, and politics. He also makes regular appearances on FOX News Media as a contributor providing analysis on a variety of subjects ranging from sports news to the cultural landscape. Throughout the college football season, Travis is on Big Noon Kickoff for Fox Sports breaking down the game and the latest storylines. Additionally, Travis serves as a co-host of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, a three-hour conservative radio talk program syndicated across Premiere Networks radio stations nationwide. Previously, he launched OutKick The Coverage on Fox Sports Radio that included interviews and listener interactions and was on Fox Sports Bet for four years. Additionally, Travis started an iHeartRadio Original Podcast called Wins & Losses that featured in-depth conversations with the biggest names in sports. Travis is a graduate of George Washington University as well as Vanderbilt Law School. Based in Nashville, he is the author of Dixieland Delight, On Rocky Top, and Republicans Buy Sneakers Too.