The opening weekend of the NFL 2023 season concludes at the Met Life Stadium as the first Monday Night Football of the new campaign sees two AFC East rivals going at it when the New York Jets take on the Buffalo Bills.
These two teams have already seen the Miami Dolphins put a bit of a marker down in their division and now they get the chance to answer that here in a clash which sees Aaron Rodgers making his home debut for his new franchise.
New York Jets
This is a big season for the New York Jets. You don’t go out and sign elite players of the calibre of Aaron Rodgers and Dalvin Cook and then be allowed to plod your way through a season with no attention or expectation. You bring those in to have a big run in the playoffs and this match is an early sounding board for how realistic that is, particularly when you consider it is against the team who have dominated the division recently.
The Jets went into the off-season with a top defence and they haven’t lost anyone of note in that regard so you would imagine that the additions they have made on offense, not just the marquee duo of Rodgers and Cook, but also the receivers that have come over from Green Bay too, will take the Jets to a new level. Rodgers has the experience to lead the younger players in this team forward so you have to say on paper the Jets do look strong enough to deliver on the expectations.
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Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills have been a few years ahead of the Jets in their progression as a team which has led to them being able to dominate the division pretty much in the entire time since Tom Brady left the New England Patriots, but for all their quality as a team they have still not made a Super Bowl and you would imagine the pressure is beginning to ramp up on them because this is a golden era of Bills players who at the very least should be competing at the Super Bowl if not winning it.
It will be interesting to see how the Buffalo Bills go about negotiating the new challenge of the Jets. Josh Allen is certainly equipped to go toe-to-toe with any quarterback in a shootout and has the weapons at his disposal to do that but there has been plenty of rain around the New York area over the weekend and more is forecast for Monday so conditions might not suit that. Allen might need his defence to stand up to the challenge and assist him in coming out with the win.
Betting
Emotions will run high in the MetLIfe Stadium for this one on the anniversary of 9/11 and I suspect that will inspire the New York Jets to victory but we do still have question marks over how quickly this newly put together offense will gel so I don’t think the home side are certainties here even though I believe they will have a good tilt at the playoffs. I think the best way to play this one is to watch the two teams but side with a player bet.
That comes in the form of the receiving yards for the rookie tight end Dalton Kincaid who will be making his NFL debut in this match. The Bills drafted up to pick him up in the first round of the draft so that immediately tells us that they like the man out of Utah. The line is down as low as 26 which I think is more than achievable. They say never to look too much at pre-season form but the fact he caught three from four passes for 45 yards in his one appearance against the Steelers can’t be a bad thing and with Sauce Gardner likely to lock up Stefon Diggs for most of the contest, Josh Allen is going to need to look elsewhere. Looking at the quotes and everything it appears Kincaid has been drafted to catch passes rather than block and with the Jets rating terribly against tight ends last season, this looks a good betting opportunity. He has every chance of covering this in two catches but three will almost certainly do it and I expect Allen to look his way enough for that to happen.
Tips
Back D.Kincaid – Over 26 receiving yards for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with BetVictor
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