The official first full week of NFL preseason action is ahead. Two of the NFL’s most exciting teams, the Bengals and the Eagles, will be facing off on Thursday night. The defending Super Bowl champions will be hitting the field for the first time since lifting the Lombardi Trophy. This game will be a great chance to see some rookies, and players will have a chance to cement a roster spot.
The Bengals are 6.5-point road favorites in this game on the DraftKings Sportsbook. Cincinnati is a -270 favorite on the moneyline, and the total is set at 36.5 points. This is a preview, prediction, and pick for this Eagles-Bengals game.
Eagles Preview
The Eagles will have a big target on their backs all season as the defending champions of the world. Their campaign to repeat as Super Bowl champions begins tonight, but it won’t be their usual suspects. Nick Sirianni is one of the most conservative coaches in football when it comes to holding out his starters during the preseason. Last preseason, Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, among many other starters, didn’t play a single minute of preseason action. Based on that history and the fact that the Eagles had the shortest offseason in the NFL, no starters will see the field for Philadelphia on Thursday night.
There are still some exciting players to watch for Philadelphia. Sixth-round draft pick Kyle McCord will likely be playing some quarterback. Tanner McKee is the clear QB2 on the roster at the moment, but McCord is competing with former Dorian Thompson-Robinson for the QB3 spot. That will likely mean the difference between being on the active roster and the practice squad by the time Week 1 comes around. Last year’s RB3, Will Shipley, will have a chance to prove that he should be the RB2 behind Saquon Barkley this season with Kenneth Gainwell out of the picture. 2025 first-round pick Jihaad Campbell is likely to play in this game as well as he competes for a starting spot in this loaded linebacker group.
Bengals Preview
The Bengals had a disappointing 2024-25 season. Joe Burrow led the NFL in passing yards, and Ja’Marr Chase won the receiving triple crown. However, their poor defense and lack of execution in key moments kept them out of the postseason. The Bengals made some changes on defense during the offseason and spent a lot of money to ensure that their offense stays intact for a couple more seasons. Even though it’s the preseason, these are important moments for the Bengals to set the tone for the upcoming season.
The Bengals are taking a much different approach to the preseason than the Eagles. Burrow, Chase and other key Bengals are expected to play in this game. The Bengals started 0-3 last season and 0-2 in the two seasons prior to that. They have only won in Week 1 once in six seasons under Zac Taylor. Taylor is hoping that by giving the full group of starters real game experience together during the preseason, they will hit the ground running in the regular season, rather than getting off to those slow starts. Taylor said that next week’s game against Washington will be the biggest workload for the starters, but they are still likely to play several series in this game.
Best Bet
My best bet for this game is for the Bengals to cover the first-half spread as 3.5-point favorites. The Eagles will get a great reception taking the field in front of their fans for the first time as Super Bowl champions. However, for the Eagles, the fun of being out there in front of the fans might be the main attraction. The starters won’t see the field at all, and quarterbacks McKee and Thompson-Robinson are not among the top backups in the NFL. McKee only has two career regular-season appearances in the NFL, including one start. Those quarterbacks, along with rookie Kyle McCord, could make some mistakes early on in this game against the Bengals’ defensive starters.
This will be the first game for the Bengals under new defensive coordinator Al Golden. While most Eagles have a good familiarity with their coordinators, the Bengals defense has a lot to prove to the new DC. It should be a focused effort from them on the defensive side of the ball. While the Eagles have a great defense with a lot of depth, Burrow should be able to move the ball against their backups with his full stable of weapons. Even once it gets to backup Jake Browning, he has proven over seven NFL starts that he can be competent, especially since he’ll be facing backups and likely third-stringers. The Bengals should jump out to an early lead and cover this first-half spread.
