MLB Weekend Preview

Through the first quarter of this NFL regular season a few things are becoming apparent. It looks like the Cincinnati Bengals are better than most people thought, as are the San Francisco 49ers. And nobody expected the Denver Broncos to be undefeated at this point. Here's a quick preview of what those teams are up to this weekend, and the Oddsmaker.com odds that go along with them.

In a battle for first place in the AFC North, the 3-1 Baltimore Ravens host the 3-1 Bengals (1 pm ET, CBS). Cincinnati, after winning four games last year, opened this season with that last-second loss to Denver, but has since beaten Green Bay, Pittsburgh and, last week, Cleveland in overtime. Baltimore, meanwhile, opened the season with wins over Kansas City, San Diego, and Cleveland, then lost a tough one at New England last Sunday.

Last year, the Ravens swept the two games from Cincy, by scores of 17-10 and 34-3. But the Bengals are a different team right now.

As of Thursday morning Oddsmaker.com is listing Baltimore at -8.5 for Sunday's game, with a total of 42. The Ravens are also moneylined at Oddsmaker at -380, with the Bengals getting +310 to win outright.

Out on the Left Coast a couple former division rivals get re-acquainted when the 2-1 Atlanta Falcons visit 3-1 San Francisco (4:05 pm ET, Fox). Atlanta started the season with home wins over Miami and Carolina, then lost at New England, managing just 257 yards of offense. The Falcons had last week off.

San Fran began the season with NFC West divisional wins over Arizona and Seattle, then lost that heartbreaker at Minnesota. Last week, the Niners scored three defensive touchdowns on their way to a 35-0 whitewash of a weak Rams team.

But SF will again be without RB Frank Gore this weekend, as he deals with a bad ankle.

These two teams, who used to play twice a year when Atlanta was in the NFC West, last met two seasons ago, when the Joey Harrington-quarterbacked Falcons beat the Alex Smith-led Niners 20-16.

As of Thursday morning, Oddsmaker.com is listing San Fran at -2.5 for Sunday's game, with a total of 41. The 49ers are also being offered at -140 on Oddsmaker's NFL moneyline, with Atlanta getting +120 as the underdogs.

And over in Mile High country, the surprisingly 4-0 Broncos host another of the AFL originals, those 3-1 Patriots (4:15 pm ET, CBS). Denver opened the season with that fluky win at Cincinnati, then beat Cleveland and Oakland by a combined score of 50-9. And last week the Broncs rallied from an early 10-0 deficit to beat Dallas 17-10. So through four games the Denver defense has allowed a total of 26 points, least by far in the league.

New England, meanwhile, squeezed by Buffalo in its season opener, then lost at the Jets. The Pats have since beaten Atlanta and Baltimore, both at home.

These two teams met in Foxboro last season for a Week 7 Monday nighter, when New England ran for 257 yards on its way to a 41-7 romp.

As of Thursday morning Oddsmaker.com is listing the Patriots as 3.5-point road chalk for Sunday's game at Denver, with a total of 41.5. Belichick's boys are also moneylined at -175, with the Broncos getting +155 as home dogs.  

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