Here is how The News' sports writers see Sunday's Bills game at the New York Jets.
Vic Carucci
Is this really a question? Come on. No contest here. Those back-to-back losses against Tennessee and Kansas City notwithstanding, the Bills are still a good team. The Jets are beyond awful.
The main priority for the Bills is to keep a two-game slide from becoming a spinning, flipping crash off the side of a mountain. That's what a three-game losing streak would be with a loss to the Jets as the third defeat. The Bills can't let that happen and I expect they won't.
They'll waste little time taking charge against a team that could very well go winless this season and roll to their biggest victory of the season, which could very well lead to Adam Gase's firing as soon as Sunday night. Bills, 33-10.
Jay Skurski
The Bills need to send an Edible Arrangements over to the NFL’s scheduling office. They couldn’t have asked for a better opponent to face riding a two-game losing streak.
The Jets are a dumpster fire right now. Buffalo hasn’t swept the season series against New York since 2015, but should do so with ease this year.
The Jets are allowing nearly 31 points per game. Conversely, they are scoring just 12.5 per game. Adam Gase is a dead man walking as head coach.
The Bills have a big opportunity to get right on both sides of the ball. If they don’t … well, let’s not even consider that, because it’s too scary even for Halloween season. Bills, 35-13.
Mark Gaughan
I hate laying 13 points in any game. In general, I like to take the underdog on double-digit spreads because I think the underdog covers between 55% and 60% in those situations. There are exceptions to my rule, like if the underdog is decimated by injuries or if it’s late in the season and the team has run for the bus. The Jets have failed to cover all six games this season. They have lost by double digits in five of six games. The other was a nine-point loss to a Denver team quarterbacked by Brett Rypien.
The Jets are due for a cover. The Bills are due for a bounce-back. The season opener between the teams was wider than the 27-17 score indicated. The Bills held a 31-15 edge in first downs.
Another decent handicapping principle is identify the two worst teams in the league and pick against them as much as possible. Yes, that principle conflicts with the double-digit spread principle sometimes. Hey, if handicapping was an exact science, Las Vegas hotel suites wouldn’t be $600 a night. Bills, 27-13.
Jason Wolf
Had the Bills beaten the Titans and/or Chiefs, this week’s trip to play the winless Jets might have been a trap game, with the Patriots, Seahawks and Cardinals on deck. Instead, it’s a prime opportunity for the defense to fix what ails it.
The Jets’ offense ranks 30th overall and is last in the NFL in scoring (12.5 points per game), average passing yards (171.3), third-down conversion rate (30.2%) and in the red zone (23.08% touchdown percentage).
Frank Gore, now the Jets’ lead back after Le’Veon Bell was released, is managing just 3.3 yards per carry, which ranks 43rd out of 45 players who carry the ball at least 6.25 times per game.
Sam Darnold might return after missing the last two games with a shoulder injury, but he was terrible through four games, completing less than 60% of his passes while throwing three touchdowns to four interceptions.
Buffalo handles its business. Bills, 24-10.
Rachel Lenzi
The Bills can’t afford a loss against an AFC opponent, but given the Jets’ lackluster season so far, that possibility seems faint. Don’t expect the Bills to let this game turn into a back-and-forth contest, after they got trampled twice in six days.
The Jets are arguably the worst team in the NFL, and they don’t have the same diverse cast of offensive options that the Chiefs or the Titans have. Actually, there’s nothing that stands out about the Jets, other than the fact that they’re in the basement of several statistical categories on either side of the ball – including an NFL-low seven touchdowns.
About the only areas where the Jets could pose any type of threat are on the pass rush, with 18 sacks this season, and in the secondary, where they have seven interceptions … but have given up 1,570 passing yards.
If there’s a bounce-back game to be had by the Bills, the meeting with the Jets comes at a perfect time. Bills, 28-7.
