Las Vegas Raiders vs Cincinnati Bengals NFL Playoff Preview

Two teams without much familiarity with the postseason will kickoff Wild Card Weekend in the NFL Playoffs on Saturday when the Las Vegas Raiders visit the Cincinnati Bengals in a 4:30 p.m ET start at Paul Brown Stadium.

The AFC Central Champions Bengals are listed as a 5.5-point road favorite over the Raiders with an over/under 49 points at Wager6.ag, where you can receive a 200% Cash Bonus.

Both teams have head coaches (Raiders interim head coach Rich Bisaccia and Cinci’s Zac Taylor) who have never led a team into the playoffs and both quarterbacks (Las Vegas’ Derek Carr and the Bengals’ Joe Burrow) will also be making their postseason debut today.

What’s more, neither franchise has had much playoff success in recent history. This will be Cincinnati’s first home playoff game since 2015 and the team has lost eight straight postseason games with the last win coming way back in 1991. As for the Raiders, one of the most storied franchises in league history, they will be seeking their first playoff victory since 2002.

As for the current state of these two teams, this game is a rematch of a Week 11 tilt in November when Cinci went to Sin City as a two-point chalk and came home with a 32-13 victory. But that final score was misleading when you consider the Raiders trailed by just three points late in the fourth quarter before the Bengals erupted for 16 points in the final five minutes. The Cinci offense compiled only 288 total yards in the win and the Raiders had an edge in yards per play.

In Round 2, we think this line is a bit inflated so we’ll take the points with a Las Vegas team that is “playing with the house’s money” (pun intended) after winning its last four games of the season to slip into the playoffs. Over the last two seasons, Las Vegas is 12-8 (60%) against the spread as an underdog and that includes seven outright wins this year when catching points. The Bengals, meanwhile, are faced with the unfamiliar role as a playoff favorite and we don’t think this team is experienced enough to be laying this many points in the postseason.

The Raiders are no stranger to close games, winning four overtime games already this season, while going 6-1 in one-score games. In another close game today, the five-point head start for the Raiders will be valuable, so let’s play Las Vegas plus the points.