A fourth quarter touchdown called back by a holding penalty. A pair of field goals hit the upright and bounce back without scoring a point. And, with all those problems last Monday night by the New York Jets, the Buffalo Bills were able to eke out a three-point win, 23-20.
Maybe the Bills aren’t that good.
Before Monday night their victories came against three of the weaker teams in the league, namely the Arizona Cardinals, which they needed a come-from-behind effort at home on opening day to win the game but lose on the point spread. In second week action, they downed the Miami Dolphins, who haven’t won a game since. And their third win was against the Jacksonville Jaguars, another team with only one win this year.
So, off back-to-back road losses and facing a Jets team in a third straight road game while leading New York by a game in the AFC East standings served up a set of circumstances that should have landed the Bills on the losing end of Monday night’s game.
But those factors didn’t trip up the Bills while they got the narrow win.
Does that mean the Jets are bad?
It certainly confirmed they weren’t good. After that loss, New York acquired Davante Adams from the Raiders for a conditional third round draft choice. The real cost of the Jets acquisition of Adams was that they assumed his huge contract.
Okay, Adams rejoins Aaron Rodgers and the duo that propelled the Green Bay Packers to a number of outstanding seasons will now try to do it in New York.
We’ll see.
But, back to the Bills.
This week, they are favored by nine points.
How can that be?
Have the people not been watching the Bills struggles in recent weeks?
Well, two reasons the Bills are heavy favorites. First, their opponent is the Tennessee Titans, another squad in the running for being the worst team in the league. And a second reason is that the Bills are in a perfect spot to take out their frustration with a lopsided home win.
I don’t really care about the first reason, but the second one is why I highly recommend laying this obvious ploy by the books to capture Tennessee bets with a wager on Buffalo giving what looks like too many points.
Qoxhi Picks: Buffalo Bills (-9) over Tennessee Titans