The 3 Best Bengals vs. Titans Player Props

01/21/2022

bengals titans player props — PHOTO CREDIT: CRAIG DUDEK

The Cincinnati Bengals finally ended a winless postseason drought that had lasted over two decades with their victory over Las Vegas last week. Now, quarterback Joe Burrow will try to lead them to their second such win in as many weeks against the rested top seed in the AFC, the Tennessee Titans. Derrick Henry and Trey Hendrickson are hoping to play for their respective teams in this one and each team’s success could center squarely around those individuals’ availability and subsequent effectiveness.

Let’s take a deep dive into the best Bengals vs. Titans player props picks for this AFC Divisional Round matchup.

Bengals vs. Titans Player Props Picks

Anthony Firkser Anytime Touchdown Scorer

Tennessee has been quietly productive in terms of generating scoring via its tight ends over the last couple seasons with Ryan Tannehill under center. Last year, Jonnu Smith (now with New England) scored eight touchdowns for the Titans, which was the sixth most of any tight end in the league.

This season, Tennessee tight ends have scored eight touchdowns combined, all coming in the team’s final 13 games. The scores have been spread out, with MyCole Pruitt and Geoff Swaim tallying three each and Anthony Firkser posting two more.

Just how they drew it up, Anthony Firkser fumble recovery TD pic.twitter.com/qdAekrKXOw

— Rivers McCown (@riversmccown) November 21, 2021

Now, though, Pruitt is on injured reserve, leaving just Firkser and Swaim to absorb all of the tight end action. It’s been Firkser who has proven a bit more of a reliable pass catcher for Tannehill, seeing more targets and catching more balls for more yards and a higher yard per catch average, despite playing one less game than Swaim.

Firkser has also started to shine brightest of late. The Harvard product failed to top three catches and didn’t score in any of his first eight games this year, but he has since pulled down at least four catches three times since. His two scores came in the final two games of the regular season, as well, on catches of five and 15 yards. The 15-yarder was the team’s longest touchdown catch by a tight end this season and could play well against Cincinnati, a team that allowed six of the eight tight end scores against it come from between 13 and 19 yards out.

The Bengals have been ripe for the picking inside the red zone for opposing tight ends during the second half of the season. Seven of the eight touchdowns tight ends scored against Cincinnati came in the its final 10 games, all in different games.

Opposing tight ends also saw the fourth most targets per game (8.17) and caught the fourth most balls per game (5.72) for the fifth most yards per game (64.4) against Cincinnati this season. With the Bengals likely keying in on Derrick Henry and the Tennessee run game when the Titans get inside the 20-yard line, we expect Firkser to see some balls thrown his way in close, especially off of play action, which is where Tannehill has always thrived.

Tee Higgins Over 4.5 Receptions

The Cincinnati passing attack has been dynamic of late and Ja’Marr Chase, with good reason, is receiving much of the credit for that success. But teams don’t finish the regular season among the top ten in passing yards per game like the Bengals did with just one rookie doing it all. Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd have also been crucial parts of Joe Burrow’s receiving options and they should both feature heavily in this one, as the Titans will want to make someone other than Chase beats them.

We are locking in on Higgins to have a big game here, despite catching just one of four balls thrown his way last week, due in large part to his consistency and ability to bounce back after a poor effort over the course of the season. Higgins played in only 14 games, two less than Boyd, but still managed seven more catches (74) on 16 more targets (110) this year. He actually was 22nd in the NFL in targets per game, finishing fourth amongst teams’ second receivers in that category.

Joe Burrow 10 yard TD strike to Tee Higgins! #RuleTheJungle pic.twitter.com/b6Kqydyqu9

— Pro Football Culture (@proftblculture) December 26, 2021

Higgins also finished just three behind Chase in first down catches on the team this season with 53, showing his importance to Burrow on high-leverage plays. Prior to last week, Higgins had never caught less than two balls in a game this season. After the two games in which he hauled in only two, he responded with a six-catch game and 12-catch game. He topped this prop’s requirement in eight of his 14 regular season outings and his three highest reception totals followed his three lowest reception games.

Tennessee is an ideal opponent against which a wide receiver can have a big game, too. Opposing wide receivers saw the most targets per game of any team in the NFL (22.9) and caught the second most passes per game (14.6) against the Titans this season. The Titans allowed multiple opposing receivers to catch at least five balls each against them eight times this year. Expect another bounce back effort from Higgins in this one.

Ja’Marr Chase 2+ Touchdowns

Ja’Marr Chase exploded at the end of the season to become the front runner for NFL Rookie of the Year. He finished the season fourth in receiving yards (1,455) before adding nine catches on 12 targets for 116 yards last week in the wild card round.

Chase’s 13 touchdown catches were the third highest, making him one of the most desirable receivers for a prop like this, which is paying out at around +900 odds. Heck, if you are betting more conservatively, you can still get Chase to score any touchdown at around +140, a quality return for one of football’s most dominant receivers, one who is going against one of the league’s worst pass-stopping units.

For those of you chasing the big payday here, like us, you should know that Chase has already had three games this season in which he posted multiple touchdowns. Also worth mentioning, all three of those games were against teams that made the NFL Playoffs this season.

JA'MARR CHASE 72-YARD TD! #RuleTheJungle

?: #KCvsCIN on CBS
?: NFL app pic.twitter.com/I7puZVAoiF

— NFL (@NFL) January 2, 2022

On the other side, we already discussed how Tennessee has been picked on by opposing wide receivers, seeing the most targets and catching the second most balls for the second most yards against. Well, it’s also interesting that Tennessee seems to give up receiving scores to wide receivers in bunches.

The Titans only had one game all season in which they allowed just one touchdown catch to a wideout. Otherwise, they either shut wide receivers out (eight times) or conceded multiple touchdowns to them (nine times).

In fact, Tennessee has allowed five different receivers on four different teams to score multiple touchdowns this season. One of those was Danny Amendola in the Titans’ last game, the final game of the regular season against Houston.

With Janoris Jenkins questionable in the Tennessee secondary, Chase should find some space to work when the Bengals get in close. We expect one long touchdown and one from inside the five for the standout rookie here.