Raiders vs. Bills Point Spread: NFL Week 2 Odds, Prediction
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Edgar Chaput
Neither team experienced the opening weeks many pundits envisioned. A lot was made of how the Raiders would struggle to handle Russell Wilson and Denver coach Sean Payton. Las Vegas still won 17-16. As for Buffalo, we’ll get into the details in their section below, but the 22-16 overtime loss to the Jets was surprising, to say the least.
The 0-1 start hasn’t shaken the NFL oddsmakers’ faith in Sean McDermott’s Bills. They currently sit as -8.5 favourites.
NFL Point Spread and Betting Analysis
Whether they’ve been the Oakland or Las Vegas Raiders, the Silver and Black haven’t performed very well against the Bills over the last 15 years. Six times the teams have crossed swords, with the New York state-based outfit winning four of them. The last time was in an empty Allegiant Stadium during the 2020 pandemic season, with the Bills winning 30-23.
Since the Raiders were underdogs against the Broncos in Week 1, it goes without saying that they sit with a 1-0 ATS. A lot more points than 33 were expected, so the final score connected with the under.
Of note, Raiders WRs Jakobi Meyers and Davante Adams are both listed as questionable, as is QB Jimmy Garoppolo.
Buffalo was a small underdog at the Jets on Monday night (-2.5) but the bewildering finish resulted in them starting the season 0-1 against the spread. Much like with the Raiders-Broncos contest, more points were anticipated, so the under connected.
Of note, LB Von Miller remains out.
Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders have been a mediocre franchise for many years at this point, but one thing remains a constant: wins against the Broncos. Unbelievably, since the calendar has shifted to the 2020s, the Raiders are a perfect 7-0 against their Colorado-based rivals.
The 17-16 victory wasn’t the most exciting game despite being close. In several respects, it was a sloppy affair, with Las Vegas being true to its nature by accumulating 10 penalties for 97 yards. There was a Garoppolo scare early in the contest when the newly signed QB was sent to the tent clinic after taking a bad hit while lunging to the ground. It didn’t last long and he bounced back admirably, throwing two TDs to another new arrival, Jakobi Meyers.
Looking at the Las Vegas and Denver statistics columns, one notices how many figures are identical or very close. One supposes that was to be expected as both are viewed as the weaker of the AFC West clubs so there isn’t much separating them. How good are the Raiders in 2023 and does a one-point over the struggling Broncos mean that much? We’ll start finding out this Sunday.
Buffalo Bills
We only have a few lines to devote to each team we write about, so we will try to make this quick. Suffice it to say that even as a Week 1 contest, Monday night’s result is one of those that could come back to haunt the Bills in the long run.
The hype of a Josh Allen vs. Aaron Rodgers battle was cut short seconds into the game given the latter’s season-ending injury. The match thus reverted to a league-wide favourite Buffalo unit playing the same old Jets. Great, except it wasn’t great. Allen had one of his worst games (and another bad one at MetLife), throwing for 5.8 yards per completion and a trio of INTs, all into the hands of New York safety Jordan Whitehead. Other than a really cool scamper inside the Jets 20 that ended with a slick toss to Stefon Diggs in the endzone, Allen simply wasn’t very good.
Jets RB Breece Hall ran all over the Bill’s line, and just when things couldn’t get wilder, they lost on a punt return in overtime. If anything, this games needs to serve as a wake-up call.
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