Buffalo Bills vs. New York Jets 2019: Prediction Against The Spread, Betting Odds For NFL Week 1

It’s a virtual guarantee that the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots will win the AFC East and the Miami Dolphins will finish in last place as one of the worst teams in football. That means its a battle between the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills for second place in the division. Week 1 could provide a major hint as to which of those two teams is going to come out on top in 2019 NFL season.

The Jets are favored by three points at home over the Bills in Sunday afternoon’s opener, according to the latest betting line at OddsShark. The game total is 41.

The point spread indicates that the two rivals are equal on a neutral field. It won’t take long before it’s apparent that New York is the better team, making them a strong bet in Week 1.

The big difference between the two teams comes down to the young starting quarterbacks. Both Sam Darnold and Josh Allen were top-10 picks in the 2018 NFL Draft. Considering how they performed as rookies, Darnold is much more likely to be a winning quarterback for the Jets in Year No.2 than Allen is for the Bills.

Darnold is no lock to have a good 2019 campaign after ranking second in the NFL with 15 interceptions and posting a poor 77.6 passer rating. His floor, however, is much higher than that of Allen, who threw more picks than touchdown passes for a 67.9 passer rating.

Concerns over Allen’s accuracy in college weren’t lessened when he completed 52.8 percent of his passes in 12 games. The quarterback’s legs were as important as his arm in 2018, rushing for 631 yards and eight scores.

Allen’s ability to run will be a weapon that helps Buffalo in 2019. Just don’t expect him to repeat what he did last year when he totaled at least 95 yards on the ground in four of his last six starts.

The way Darnold concluded his 2018 season is more replicable. At just 21 years old, he exhibited star potential with a strong December. After outdueling Allen and leading the Jets to a 27-23 comeback victory in Buffalo, Darnold posted passer ratings of 100.0 and 128.4 in consecutive weeks. Darnold threw for five touchdowns and no interceptions in the season’s final three games.

Darnold is bound to improve if only because of the added weapons on New York’s roster. The Jets signed Le’Veon Bell, who was arguably the league’s best playmaker before he decided to hold out for an entire year. The running back caught at least 75 passes in three of his last four seasons.

Buffalo definitely has the advantage on defense. The Bills are much better in pass coverage and might be able to generate a decent amount of pressure against a bad Jets’ offensive line.

But Buffalo doesn’t exactly have an elite offensive line either, and New York’s secondary won’t look so bad against a quarterback that barely completes more than half of his throws.

The Bills are 2-4 straight up and against the spread in their last six games with the Jets, per OddsShark. Look for both records to move to 2-5 Sunday afternoon.

Prediction Against The Spread: New York over Buffalo, 23-13