Bengals vs Panthers Free Pick, NFL Free Picks, NFL Predictions 9/29/24

Cincinnati @ Carolina (CIN -4.5, 47.5)

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Bengals vs Panthers Free Pick, NFL Free Picks, NFL Predictions 9/29/24

Cincinnati Bengals @ Carolina Panthers

New season, but the same Cincinnati Bengals, starting the year 0-3 and failing to come out of the blocks hot. The Bengals fell short against the Washington Commanders on Monday Night Football, with rookie Jayden Daniels having a historic game just three years into his career against the Bengals defense.

With injuries to both interior defensive tackles, Sheldon Rankins and BJ Hill, the Bengals' struggles against the run have only gotten worse. Opposition teams are running the football on them over 58% of the time, the highest percentage in football, because Cincinnati just can’t stop it.

They’re allowing 142.3 rushing yards per game (26th), on 34.3 rushes per game (28th), and have given up four rushing touchdowns in three games so far this season. Their struggles are then heightened by the absence of Joe Mixon, and the Bengals own run game falling short of the mark so far this year, averaging 89.3 rushing yards per game on just 19.1 carries.

That said, Joe Burrow was excellent on Monday Night, and the loss certainly wasn’t on him and the pass game. He was 29-38 for 324 yards and three touchdowns, with a bounceback game for Ja’Marr Chase after weeks of controversy. They scored 33 points, and had a good day as an offense, but allowed 38 on defense, and that just can’t continue.

One note on the Bengals, they lost offensive tackle Trent Brown for the season, ruled out with a knee injury. That will force rookie first round pick Amarius Mims into early action, who’d played just one snap before Brown went down in the game against Washington.

The Bengals are on the road this weekend against a team that just got its confidence back with a stunning Week 3 win. Bryce Young watched on from the sidelines as Andy Dalton carved up the Raiders defense, throwing for 319 yards and three touchdowns, while Chuba Hubbard led the ground game with 114 yards of his own.

Unfortunately for Bryce Young, the Panthers looked like a good football team without him. He just isn’t ready, and the trade talks are real. But for the Panthers, their first win of the season puts them right back on track, and those first two weekends might just feel like a distant memory.

They too suffered a key injury though, with vet wide receiver Adam Thielen going down in the win while extending for a touchdown, and now landing on IR with a hamstring injury. Carolina will need Jonathan Mingo and rookie Xavier Legette to step up in his absence, while Diontae Johnson looked superb as WR1 playing with Dalton.

This has ‘trap game’ all over it for the Bengals, who need to be extremely careful to avoid a disaster 0-4 start to the season, giving them a mountain to climb back into relevance both in their division, and in the AFC overall. For Andy Dalton, it’s a revenge game against the Bengals, and he’s going to want to win this one.

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 Bengals Team Total Over 24.5