Post sports gambling editor/producer and digital sports editor Matt Ehalt is back for his second season in the NFL Bettor’s Guide.

The Bengals changed their preseason routine by playing their starters in hopes of starting faster this season following three straight 0-2 starts.

The 2023 season actually featured Cincinnati opening with a shocking 24-3 loss in Cleveland, but we’re betting that won’t happen this time around.

Quarterback Joe Burrow is a trendy MVP pick, and with Chase Brown emerging at running back the Bengals should move the ball at will.

The question is their defense, but we’re not scared of a Joe Flacco-led offense going toe to toe with Cincinnati’ elite offense.

We’re backing the Bengals to open with a win for the first time since the 2022 campaign and perhaps even hear a few chants for Shedeur Sanders in the fourth quarter in Cleveland.

This is a bet against Spencer Rattler and factoring in that the Saints may be the worst team in the NFL this upcoming season.

Rattler, to put it kindly, is quite bad.

The Saints have an offensive-minded coach in Kellen Moore, but there’s no reason to believe Rattler can lead a serviceable offense.

The Saints actually went 0-6 in his starts last year, losing those games by an average of 20.33 points.

The closest loss came in an eight-point setback in Week 18, while the other five each were by at least 15 points.

The Cardinals are a solid team with a defensive-minded coach, and the fast track inside the Superdome could be the start of the Marvin Harrison Jr. Year 2 leap.

New Orleans, meanwhile, can begin trying to pitch native son Arch Manning to come home and save a once-proud franchise.

2024 record: 16-27-1

Matt Ehalt has been picking against the spread since his childhood days when he entered his father’s newspaper pool and even took the top prize on more than one occasion. He specializes in NFL wagers and is quite successful with NCAA brackets.