Buffalo narrowly edged the Indianapolis Colts 23-19 while the Steelers handled the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27-17. Which team is a good bet to win outright and against the spread in their second preseason contest?

NFL Preseason Point Spread and Betting Analysis

Sean McDermott has one of the better preseason records as his Bills are 13-6 in the exhibition frame. After going 3-5 in his first two preseasons with McDermott, the Bills are 10-1 in the preseason in their last 11.

We do know that Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin tends to care about the preseason. Overall, his record is 38-24. His team has now won four straight in the preseason and 16 of their last 20. 

Buffalo Bills

As expected, Buffalo didn’t even stress their stars with Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs staying away from the field last week. Luckily, they got great performances from the backups to give them a win in the preseason opener. Veteran quarterback Matt Barkley completed 14 out of his 15 passes for 172 yards and two touchdowns. He has experience starting regular season games and that showed when he squared off against the backups.

Kyle Allen replaced Barkley and didn’t fare as well, throwing for 122 yards and an interception while completing eight of his 15 attempts. There’s a strong chance that we still don’t see Allen or Diggs suit up due to injury risk. Nonetheless, this is still a pretty strong quarterback rotation. At running back, this team is deep too with James Cook, Damien Harris, Latavious Murray and Darrynton Evans all getting carries last week. The Bills should have a good shot to win here.

Pittsburgh Steelers

The Steelers offense is still rather green, so a lot of their youngsters – even the ones that will play key minutes in the regular season – got action in their preseason opener against the Buccaneers. Kenny Pickett and company drove straight down the field and scored a touchdown to start the game. We’ll likely see those starters early on again with likely another drive or two for many of them. 

Behind the starters, Pittsburgh will roll out both Mason Rudolph and Mitchell Trubisky. Trubisky didn’t look great in his first outing but Rudolph stepped in and threw for 132 yards and a touchdown. These are two seasoned veterans, making this another really strong quarterback rotation.

With both coaches focused on winning in the preseason and two good depth charts at quarterback, this is a tough game to handicap. The over might be the best play in this game. There are two good offenses on the field and the side is too close to call.

Who Will Win Bills vs. Steelers?

BILLS

Away

24

STEELERS

Home

27

Score
Predictions

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