2005 · Week 1 · Division

Final

Bengals

Cincinnati

QB Carson Palmer

27·13

Browns

Cleveland

QB Trent Dilfer

Cleveland Browns Stadium · outdoors · grass · 74°F · wind 5mph

Closing spread

CIN -3.5

Total

44.5

Model margin

-0.0est.

CLE perspective

Push chance

None

half-point line — cannot push

Win probability

  • Browns
  • Bengals

How each play moved the game.

Browns winsBengals wins

Matchup

Where the edges are

Season-long league percentiles for both sides, mirrored. The saturated side of a lopsided row holds the edge.

Bengalsedge mapBrowns
  • +0.102EPA / play-0.131
  • 48.2%Success rate39.5%
  • +0.159EPA / dropback-0.097
  • +0.023EPA / rush-0.183
  • 9.1%Explosive rate7.4%
  • 43.8%Third-down rate32.4%
  • 60.3%Red-zone TD rate38.1%
  • 2.30Points / drive1.22
  • 1.9%Turnover rate3.1%
  • +0.010EPA / play allowed-0.004

Bar length is league percentile, already oriented so longer is better. The saturated side of a lopsided row holds the edge; rows within ~12 points are washed as even.

The rivalry

CIN lead 32–22 since 1999

Meetings average 42.7 points. CLE are 24-29-1 ATS in the series.

Previous meetings
SeasonMatchupScoreWinner
2025 · W18CLE @ CIN2018CLE
2025 · W1CIN @ CLE1716CIN
2024 · W16CLE @ CIN624CIN
2024 · W7CIN @ CLE2114CIN
2023 · W18CLE @ CIN1431CIN
2023 · W1CIN @ CLE324CLE
2022 · W14CLE @ CIN1023CIN
2022 · W8CIN @ CLE1332CLE

Box score

Individual performances

Bengals

Passing

PlayerC/AttYdsTDINT
Carson Palmer26/3428021

Rushing

PlayerCarYdsAvgTD
Rudi Johnson261264.81
Chad Johnson11111.00
Chris Perry5112.20

Browns

Passing

PlayerC/AttYdsTDINT
Trent Dilfer26/4327812

Rushing

PlayerCarYdsAvgTD
Reuben Droughns12786.50
William Green4123.00
Trent Dilfer252.50

Where this game is likely to land

  • Model
  • Smooth (normal)
  • Betting line

Probability of each final margin. Football scoring clusters — the spikes at 3 and 7 are real, and a smooth model misses them.

line -3.52.7%4.4%2.9%7.4%7.3%2.9%4.4%2.7%

Positive margins favour Browns; negative favour Bengals.

Half-point at risk

7.36%

outcomes that flip if the line moves 0.5

Model home win

49.0%

Expected total

44.4est.

Model

Where the number comes from

Each component is additive, in points of expected margin.

  • Team ratings (opponent-adjusted EPA)-2.61
  • Home-field advantage+2.56
  • Quarterback adjustment0.00
  • Rest differential0.00
  • Expected margin-0.04