The Buffalo Bills kick-off the new NFL season on Thursday night as they take on the Los Angeles Rams with high expectations.
The Bills enter the new campaign as Super Bowl favourites with the bookmakers having won the AFC East in each of the last two seasons and gone deep into the play-offs. They were beaten in a thriller by the Kansas City Chiefs in the play-offs last year but return with a vengeance.
Fifth-year quarterback Josh Allen has emerged as one of the league’s top players whilst the addition of former Super Bowl MVP Von Miller from the Rams is a huge boost on defence.
But they are also facing up to life without offensive co-ordinator Brian Daboll, who left to become head coach of the New York Giants at the end of last season. With that uncertainty, former players Jason Bell and Osi Umenyiora - now the UK's top NFL pundits - have different opinions on the Bills’ Super Bowl hopes.
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Bell backs the bookies and believes the Bills are favourites, albeit under pressure entering a mouth-watering opener against the reigning Super Bowl champions.
“They have all the heat on them,” says Bell. “They have a quarterback that could win MVP, they have one of the best rosters from top to bottom, but it’s the exit of Brian Daboll.
“We’re going to see how the play-calling goes, do they have a problem? I’m going with the Bills now because I like their complete roster, but we know you’ve got to stay healthy and the season is long.
“When you look at their second string defensive line, that would be a decent defensive line on some teams, so they fixed their problems.
“Now it’s all on Josh Allen to go out there and take them to the promised land. We’ll see what happens, but this one makes for a good storyline.”
Umenyiora, however, insists the Bills do not pass his “smell test”. The former New York Giants defensive end knows what it takes to lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy after winning two Super Bowls but believes the Bills will still come up short.
He says: “In terms of the Buffalo Bills, when I look at that football team, the last couple of years they’ve been steadily improving and they have made a huge addition in Von Miller.
“I think what has held them back has been inexperience but now it seems they have that experience.
“But whenever you lose an offensive co-ordinator like Brian Daboll, I think that’s always going to hold your offence back, especially in the early part of the season and in the NFL, every game is important.
“Who knows, if they fall behind, if they’re going to be able to overcome that?
“I just don’t believe in the Buffalo Bills, there’s something, they don’t pass my smell test. I think they’re going to be a decent regular season team, I think they’ll go to the play-offs, but I think they’ll capitulate in the play-offs like they always do.”
Watch Laura Woods, Jason Bell and Osi Umenyiora on ITV's The NFL Show every Friday evening, starting on September 9.
