FanDuel Sportsbook<\/a>, there are lots of ways to take your game-day experience to a new level while cheering on the Buffalo Bills!<\/p>\nBills cover spread (-1.5 | O\/U 44.5) for 1st win at NRG<\/p>\n
There are a few reasons to avoid this line, and most won\u2019t need to look any further than the oddity that NFL Week 1 often is league-wide. There\u2019s also the fact that the Bills have never won in NRG Stadium, with Josh Allen holding onto four such losses. Add in a pair of young first-time lead coaches for Buffalo working their first game, and it feels like there might be too much working against them this weekend.<\/p>\n
Yet some of those same reasons are why it might makes sense to take these odds. While most will say these should be flipped in Houston\u2019s favor, at some point history has to change course. In many ways, Buffalo was a known entity to much of the league in prior seasons, thanks to the nine-season tenure of prior head coach Sean McDermott. It\u2019s true that the NFL has also seen Brady\u2019s work as the team\u2019s previous offensive coordinator, but it was under the leadership of McDermott.<\/p>\n
Will Brady operate a different type of system as the new leader? He\u2019s brought in Pete Carmichael as offensive coordinator, who\u2019s also comes from the Sean Payton coaching tree. Together, and with Brady still calling plays, look for Buffalo\u2019s offense to utilize certain principles Payton has made famous in his career \u2014 but with a twist perhaps the Texans haven\u2019t yet seen.<\/p>\n
Add in what\u2019s sure to be a highly motivated Allen and we might see the Bills finally claim a W in Houston. If you\u2019re looking to wager on the O\/U of 44.5 (Bills-specific total of O\/U 23.5), consider the volatility of the first week, and that every game has equal potential to be a blowout or low-scoring defensive battle.<\/p>\n
Josh Allen scores 2+TDs (+900)<\/p>\n
Book it. A motivated Josh Allen is dangerous for the Bills\u2019 opponents. There may be no better game to begin a season if the goal is to have Allen locked in from the start. He wants a win in NRG like little else. To accomplish that, Buffalo will need plenty of end zone production from Allen.<\/p>\n
I expect Brady to get Allen in a rhythm off the bat, which could play into an afternoon that sees him throwing at least two touchdowns, and perhaps running for another score. In fact, if things go according to plan, Allen could meaningfully flirt with scoring three-plus touchdowns (+5500) Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Getting off on the right foot in Week 1 means letting Allen take control of things. This is the way.<\/p>\n
James Cook III gets 100+ yards from scrimmage<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve read this far, you might be wondering if I\u2019ve even taken a second to consider the immense talent all over the Texans\u2019 defense. I have. But it\u2019s Week 1 and this is a new season. James Cook is currently -114 at FanDuel O\/U 74.5 rushing yards. Cook can get most of that total with one cut to the end zone.<\/p>\n
At some point, Brady will lean into the running game in an attempt to smash home a proper reminder about who led the league in rushing for 2025. Interestingly, Cook is also -114 (at publishing) to finish O\/U 19.5 receiving yards. I say he finishes over that total, perhaps north of 30 yards on the day.<\/p>\n
Parallels have been drawn between Cook and Alvin Kamara for good reason. Cook came out of college as a premiere dual-threat player, and I expect Brady to better unleash Cook in that role this season. Cook at -105 as an anytime touchdown scorer also feels like a solid bet; while his -165 odds to lead the game in rushing yards feels similarly likely to happen.<\/p>\n
Those are just a few quick takes, but there are plenty of more bold predictions to make. We really don\u2019t know what to expect out of Leonhard\u2019s defense yet, so that leaves room for a lot of guessing about who claims the first sack in his system, and what an aggressive scheme looks like toward turning the ball over.<\/p>\n
What are you willing to predict happens during Bills-Texans in Week 1?<\/p>\n
Think you\u2019ve got what it takes to make a play with the Buffalo Bills in 2026? Head over to FanDuel Sportsbook now to put it to the test<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The wait\u2019s almost over, Bills Mafia! In a couple days\u2019 time, the Buffalo Bills will be on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":998204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2048],"tags":[215,214,53,85590,1622,2086,7,6],"class_list":["post-998203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-buffalo-bills","tag-bills","tag-buffalo","tag-buffalo-bills","tag-buffalo-bills-analysis","tag-buffalo-bills-opinion","tag-buffalobills","tag-football","tag-nfl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117254447667154780","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=998203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/998204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=998203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=998203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=998203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}