At first glance this looks like a nice bounceback spot for the Bengals, who were embarrassed on Monday Night Football by their division rivals. But Cincy's injury report is bleak. The Bengals will be missing top corners Chidobe Awuzie and Mike Hilton, and corner Tre Flowers is questionable after not practicing all week. Defensive tackle Josh Tupou also is out, exacerbating the Bengals' problems with run defense that began with D.J. Reader (knee) going on IR. The upstart Panthers get top corner Jaycee Horn back from an ankle injury. Look for big games from D'Onta Foreman and D.J. Moore as P.J. Walker improves to 5-1 ATS as a starter.

The Bengals are coming off a dud with one less day to prepare for this game, but I still think they can take care of business. Cincy's offense has looked its best when Joe Burrow has time to throw, and Carolina is 30th in sack rate. He should have a much easier time this week than he did against Cleveland, even with Ja'Marr Chase still out. The Panthers offense didn't have a good passing day despite an easy matchup last week, with P.J. Walker completing just over 50% of his passes. The lookahead here was Bengals -9.5, and though you have to discount Cincy slightly due to the injuries to Chase and Chidobe Awuzie, this line should still be north of 7.