‘Thursday Night Football’ picks, odds, best bets

Congratulations if you saw the market inefficiencies in oddsmakers’ gaping 14-point handicap for Joe Flacco and the Bengals against Green Bay last week.

It marked the second-highest point spread for the NFL season.

The Bengals had 57 percent of the public on its side in spite of the optics around a 40-year-old signal-caller taking the keys to the offense several days before facing a top-five EPA team on the road.

Steelers vs. Bengals ‘Thursday Night Football’ prediction

Cincinnati remained within striking distance all day as Flacco completed 64 percent of his passes, threw for 219 yards and two touchdowns and relinquished zero turnovers in the 27-18 defeat.

Now 5.5-point home ’dogs against the 4-1 Steelers, there’s obviously some overcorrection, but are the Bengals still not getting enough trust from Vegas?

The Steelers have run the fewest offensive plays in the NFL and gained the fewest overall yards.

Cincinnati has suffered defensively, but I’m offsetting this with Aaron Rodgers’ dink-and-drag attack.

Let’s not forget the Bengals still boast one of the game’s most threatening skill groups between Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.

They’ve just needed a quarterback. With another week of settling under Flacco’s belt, I’m looking for more explosive plays. 

I don’t place a lot of stock in trends, but Mike Tomlin’s 0-6 road mark on “Thursday Night Football” has my attention.

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Betting on the NFL?

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It’s Rodgers against Flacco. If this were 2012, we could grab the popcorn.

Here in 2025, I’m still expecting a close one — just not very sexy in the duel of Father Times.

THE PLAY: Bengals +5.5 (-110 at BetMGM).

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Why Trust New York Post Betting

Sean Treppedi handicaps the NFL, NHL, MLB and college football for the New York Post. He primarily focuses on picks that reflect market value while tracking trends to mitigate risk.