- The Bucs-Bengals total of 50.5 is the highest number on the Week 1 board, with no other game above 50.
- Cincinnati is a 4-point favorite at -105 on the spread, with Tampa Bay taking the points at -115.
- Cincinnati is -210 on the moneyline at Bovada and -200 at BetOnline, with Tampa Bay priced near +175.
- Joe Burrow returns from a turf-toe injury that limited him to eight starts and 17 touchdown passes in 2025.
CINCINNATI – The Cincinnati Bengals host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday at Paycor Stadium with the highest total of any Week 1 game at 50.5 points, a number built on two defenses that finished in the bottom half of the NFL in points allowed last season.
The Board’s Biggest Number
No other game on the Week 1 NFL board carries a total above 50, and the next-closest, New Orleans at Detroit, sits at 50 at BetOnline and 49.5 at Bovada, two of the books still setting Week 1 NFL numbers.
A number that size is a bet on both offenses finding room, and Bovada and BetOnline both charge more to take the under than the over here, -115 against -105, so a bettor fading the shootout clears a slightly higher bar to cash than the over side does.
Moneyline
- Odds
- Bengals -210 (Bovada), -200 (BetOnline); Buccaneers +175 (Bovada), +174 (BetOnline)
Spread
- Odds
- Bengals -4 (-105); Buccaneers +4 (-115)
Total
- Odds
- 50.5, Over -105, Under -115
Cincinnati’s Defense Never Found Its Footing
The Bengals allowed 492 points last season, 28.9 a game, 30th of 32 teams in points allowed on the way to a 6-11 finish that missed the playoffs for a third straight year. Tampa Bay’s defense was not far behind, ranking 20th at 411 points allowed, 24.2 a game, in an 8-9 season of its own. Neither unit gave oddsmakers a reason to trust a stop, and that shortfall on both sides is doing as much to push the total up as either offense is.
Burrow’s Return Is The Other Half Of The Number
Burrow suffered the turf-toe injury in Week 2 last season, landed on injured reserve and missed nine games before returning for Cincinnati’s final six. In his eight starts he completed 66.8% of his passes for 1,809 yards, 17 touchdowns and a 100.7 passer rating, a pace that would have ranked among the league’s better full seasons over 17 games.
That version of the Bengals offense is what the total is pricing back in, paired with a Tampa Bay attack that finished 18th in scoring behind Baker Mayfield, the matchup legal sports betting sites have made the loudest number of the opening week. Both starting quarterbacks enter Sunday healthy, and kickoff is 1 p.m. ET at Paycor Stadium.
