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The NFL is taking over Christmas Weekend and features a Saturday afternoon matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals (8-6, 6-6-2 ATS) and the Pittsburgh Steelers (7-7, 7-7 ATS). The AFC North is the only division without a team with a losing record. The Bengals are currently in the playoffs as Wildcard as the 6-seed, while Pittsburgh is back in 10th in the standings, but are not eliminated yet. The Bengals just pulled out a home win over Minnesota 27-24 in OT, but did not cover as 3.5-point favorites. The Steelers got blown out in Indianapolis, losing 30-13 to the Colts as 1.5-point dogs. These teams already met this season with Pittsburgh winning 16-10 on the road. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:30 EST from Acrisure Stadium, and can be found on NBC.
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Many people wrote off the Cincinnati Bengals when Joe Burrow went down with an injury, but backup Jake Browning has stepped in and kept the team in playoff contention. The Bengals have won three out of their four games with Browning starting at quarterback, and are currently on a three game winning streak. Cincy has reeled off consecutive victories over the Jaguars, Colts and Vikings, and a win here would continue to improve their playoff viability. In the win over Minnesota, Browning threw for 324 yards with two touchdowns in the win.
Browning is averaging 295.0 yards per game in his las four starts, with 6-3 TD-INT ratio. The Bengals still look to air it out in close games, as Browning threw for 354 yards in the win in Jacksonville two weeks ago. Ja'Marr Chase is having a strong season on the outside, he is 7th in the league in total receiving yards and is averaging 82.6 yards per game to go w ith seven touchdowns. Chase is nursing a shoulder injury and did not practice as Wednesday, but it looks like he will play in this one. Tyler Boyd (41.1 YPG) and Tee Higgins (49.7 YPG) provide depth at the receiver position giving Browning quality options all over the field. Joe Mixon is the top back with 58.2 yard per game and eight touchdowns. The Bengals do not use many other backs, as the next top rusher (Chase Brown) has 700 less rushing yards than Mixon has.
The Bengals rank 14th in the NFL in scoring with 21.9 points per game, and their defense ranks 20th by allowing 22.2 points per. Linebacker Logan Wilson leads the team in tackles with 114 on the season, and is also strong defending the pass as he has three interceptions. Defensive end Trey Hendrickson is third in the league in sacks with 15 on the year. Cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt leads the team in interceptions with four. Cincinnati is 2nd in the NFL in turnover differential they have forced 23 turn overs on defense, and their offense has only turned it over 11 times.
Injury Report:
Out: QB Joe Burrow, DT DJ Reader, CB Cam Taylor-Britt
Questionable: Ja'Marr Chase