Do the Bills also roll over the Titans?
The first week of the new season couldn’t have gone any more differently for Buffalo and Tennessee. While the Bills were able to make a statement in the season opener against the Los Angeles Rams, the team from Nashville surprisingly lost to the New York Giants. That ensures that before the week two clash of the Bills vs. Titans, the odds speak a very clear language.
The Bills were already the favourites in their first appearance of the season and absolutely lived up to this role, especially in the second round. In almost all respects, they were the better team in the match against the reigning Super Bowl champions. Currently the hottest contender to win this trophy? The Buffalo Bills.
A regression was predicted for head coach Mike Vrabel’s team before the season began and the game against the Giants showed just that. However, the fact that they still lost the game after leading 13-0 and 20-13 was also due to bold decisions by their opponents.
Buffalo Bills – Statistics & current form
A quick look at the roster at head coach Sean McDermott’s disposal this season is enough to determine that the Bills have everything in place for a potential Super Bowl victory. If the team led by top-5 quarterback Josh Allen can get through the season with few blowouts, Buffalo could go a long way in the playoffs.
No more question marks
The Los Angeles game showed well how well the partially replaced cogs in the system are already meshing. Beforehand, there were question marks about how good the Bills’ pass receivers are after the departures of Emmanuel Sanders and Cole Beasley. The four-time AFC champions gave the answer on the turf. Receivers one through three (Diggs, Davis, McKenzie) each caught a touchdown pass from Josh Allen. So the question marks quickly turned into big exclamation marks.
There were also at least minor doubts in the defence and after one game there should not be an overreaction. Nevertheless, the defence was strong across the board. Especially the front line of the defence looked extremely strong against a newly formed Rams offence. The missing piece of the puzzle seems to have been found there with superstar Von Miller. He had an enormous impact against his former team with two sacks and three tackles for loss.
It can be assumed that Buffalo will be able to build on their outstanding performance. Quarterback Josh Allen, despite his two interceptions, played at the highest level. He will also find gaps in the visiting defence, in the Bills vs Titans game. So the prediction that at least one of his three receivers will catch a touchdown pass from him is quite realistic. For each of the three receivers, betting on a touchdown offers odds over 2.00 at bet365.
Key Players:
QB: Josh Allen
RB: Devin Singletary
WR: Stefon Diggs
TE: Dawson Knox
K: Tyler Bass
Tennessee Titans – stats & recent form
The Titans experienced at least a moderate amount of upheaval in the pass receiving group this summer. Four of the five wide receivers left Nashville and Tennessee signed veteran Robert Woods from the Super Bowl champion LA. He didn’t have a major role in the offense yet, though, so two rookie receivers played their way to the forefront. Kyle Philips and Treylon Burks caught a combined nine balls for 111 yards.
How good is the offense really?
The other bulk of the work on offense was done by running back Derrick Henry, as expected, but he only managed 82 yards on 21 runs. Last season he ran for 937 yards in only eight games, which corresponds to an average of 117 yards per game. The main reason for this has to be the sometimes weak blocking of the offensive line, where further personnel failures cannot be ruled out. The shaky line, which was supposed to protect quarterback Ryan Tannehill, did its job rather below average and will be a real problem in the upcoming game in this form.
Statistically, week one was mediocre with 266 passing yards and 93 rushing yards, but Tennessee was still able to move the ball well offensively. Will the Titans be able to do the same in Buffalo against the Bills? Our prediction is that the home defence will be too strong, as they only allowed 243 yards against the Rams.
On defence, Elijah Molden is still missing, which means a huge weakening in the pass defence. The “Injury Report” during the week also listed cornerbacks Kristian Fulton and Lonnie Johnson. Both practiced on a limited basis, but at least the latter definitely appears to be able to suit up. The possible absences don’t make the task any easier for the visitors, in the Bills vs. Titans game. A tip that Tennessee can really stand up to Buffalo seems utopian.
Key Players:
QB: Ryan Tannehill
RB: Derrick Henry
WR: Kyle Philips
TE: Geoff Swaim
K: Randy Bullock
Buffalo Bills – Tennessee Titans Direct Comparison / H2H Balance
The two franchises have faced each other a total of 49 times in their history and the Bills have only won 38% of the matches. In each of the last four seasons, they met in October and most recently the Nashville team won twice in a row.
Those two duels ended with 65 and 58 points, well above the 47.5 points that bookmakers are putting up as the over/under limit in the upcoming clash. Previously, Buffalo won three consecutive games (2015, 2018, 2019), but in which they averaged only 24 points and never scored more than 27.
Since we don’t trust much in the visitors’ offense, between the Bills and Titans, betting on less than 48 points seems rather attractive.
Buffalo Bills – Tennessee Titans Tip
The bookmakers have the hosts as ten-point favourites in some cases and, based on impressions so far, that is justified in the order of magnitude. Therefore, the betting odds of 1.20 on Bills vs. Titans will not tempt anyone behind the stove. The strength of the oddsmakers’ assessment of the home side is also shown by the fact that the point limit for the Bills is Over/Under 28.5 points.
Even though we believe in a clear win for the Bills, we choose a different recommendation. We expect playmaker Josh Allen to once again excel, throwing at least two touchdown passes. Last week, he even threw three. If so, the likelihood of him finding Isaiah McKenzie in the end zone is high. He will be hard to defend in the middle of the field, for the visitors’ defence. If he scores a touchdown, as he did against LA, the odds between the Bills and Titans are 3.25.
