The Cincinnati Bengals travel to Atlanta and the Georgia Dome to take on the Atlanta Falcons in the first preseason game of the season for both. The Bengals and Falcons will get underway at 8:00pm ET on Thursday night, August 8th, with coverage on ESPN. This is the only nationally televised game for Week 1 of the season outside of the Hall of Fame game that was played this past Sunday.
- When:
Thurs., Aug. 8th, 2013 @ 8pm ET
- Where:
Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia
- Who’s Favored?
Pick ‘Em – 33.5 o/u @ BetOnline
- More Info:
Both Atlanta and Cincinnati come into this season with high expectations, especially on the side of the Falcons. Atlanta came ever-so-close to a berth in the Super Bowl last season, and in actuality should have won that NFC Championship game. The Falcons made moves to get better in the offseason, dropping Michael Turner and signing former Rams running back Steven Jackson. The running back is expected to come in and help with the run game, which can in-turn help Roddy White, Julio Jones, and Tony Gonzalez make big plays in the passing game catching passes from Matt Ryan.
On the other side of the field, Cincinnati enters as the defending AFC North champions. The Bengals will be without star receiver A.J. Green for this one. Green bruised his knee last week and has not practiced since. His return is unknown, but he will not make the trip to the Georgia Dome.
This should be a good match up putting the Falcons’ receivers on the Bengals secondary. Cincinnati ranked seventh against the pass last season.