The New York Giants (0-1) and Buffalo Bills (1-0) will square off on Sunday in a Week 2 matchup.
The Giants opened the week as 2.5-point home underdogs, and little has changed on the current spread, which lists Big Blue at +2.5 entering the weekend.
With this matchup on tap, Giants Wire took the opportunity to hold a Q&A with Bills Wire managing editor Nick Wojton.
Giants Wire: Earlier this week, Giants head coach Pat Shurmur said Josh Allen had an impressively strong arm and was viewed as a potential NFL starter — one of the 32 most elite players at his position in the world — and the Bills turned it into a negative. Why?
Nick Wojton: That’s an interesting question. I think the team was probably playing into the fan base with that one. Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott is like the rest of them in the sense that he gives little to no info on things and is very vague. But he’s been very “Buffalo proud” since coming to the team in 2017. Not to say that NYC and Giants fans aren’t prideful, but as a small-market team, it’s very much a “Buffalo vs. the world” type of sentiment in Western New York. So in doing so, essentially saying “the Giants head coach bashed the Bills’ guy” seems like a bit of ploy into that mindset. We’ll see if it motivated the players on Sunday.
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Entering the season, the Bills (much like the Giants) were viewed as somewhat of a top-heavy team in terms of personnel, but now bettors are piling money on their potential Super Bowl hopes. Is this all a product of a Week 1 victory, or is there more going on than meets the eye in Buffalo?
Week 1 certainly plays a part. They looked awful for 2.5 quarters before turning things around last week for a 17-point comeback. But it’s likely a mix simply with odds. With the win, and folks going, ‘Hey, does Buffalo have something here?’ combined with odds that would be a decent payout, such as 100-1 odds, would likely call for a nice little bet. A little on-field analysis: The Bills defense is playoff-caliber; it just depends if the offense can keep up, and last week they finally did.
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Should the Giants be anticipating a change at running back for the Bills, or will they move full steam ahead with the aging Frank Gore?
This is something I don’t know if anyone has the answer to. Devin Singletary looked great, but to your point, Gore had double the carries last week. McDermott was questioned on this during the week, and while he did say Gore is No. 1 on the depth chart, he also wouldn’t call him, or anyone, their feature back. He was all over the place. In my opinion, I would bet we see: one, more touches for Singletary this week, and two, he gets his first carry before the second half, which was the case last week.
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Let’s go back to Josh Allen for a moment … as impressively strong as his arm is, a frequent criticism has been his lack of accuracy. It’s still extremely early, but have you seen any improvement in that area, or is it something that still raises some red flags?
Better, but still some red flags. In the preseason, one drive we would see him put the right on the money, down the middle, between two defenders. That’s actually where his arm strength is amazing. Those 70-yard bombs are cool, but on a 10-yard pass, the ball is there before the defender knows what hit him. But he’s certainly still not always consistent, at least through Week 1. Two interceptions tell the tale there. To really see if his accuracy is up to par, keep it in mind when he targets Cole Beasley. The most notable times he is not accurate are when Beasley is fishing for balls in his feet over the middle.
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After he saw just 15 touches in Week 1, the Bills can expect Saquon Barkley to see about 35 on Sunday. Do they have the defensive personnel capable of slowing him down?
I’m not a homer, I am a Western New York native after all, but the Bills have one of the most overlooked front-seven defenses in the NFL. On the edge, Trent Murphy is finally healthy and looked great in Week 1, and Jerry Hughes is as consistent as they come. In the middle, Star Lotulelei doesn’t get on the stat sheet and for me it’s mind-numbing that their second-highest cap hit plays about half of the snaps a game, but he eats up at least two blockers every time he’s out there. Rounding out the four, Ed Oliver comes as advertised. He’s a beast.
Behind them, Tremaine Edmunds took some lumps in his first season as a middle linebacker, but he is a freak of nature, a 6-foot-5 animal in the middle. And in my opinion, one of the best linebackers in the league is Matt Milano. He’s very overlooked but very good. Only problem with him on Sunday might be his size against Saquon; he’s not big. But in conclusion, yes, I think they Bills do have the defense to stop Barkley, but say he does get 35 touches, that’s where Allen and the offense come into play. They have to eat some clock and put up points to slow down the league’s best runner.
Make sure you check out Nick Wojton for all of your Bills needs over at Bills Wire.
