Neither the Buffalo Bills nor the Philadelphia Eagles got off to a hot start this preseason. However, whereas Buffalo’s first-team offense only managed three points off of three possessions, Philadelphia was able to move right down the field and score on the lone drive where its starters played. Look for both starters to play more this Thursday, particularly Buffalo after the two stunning trades it made on Monday. Interestingly enough, one of those two trades involved this Philadelphia team.
This matchup in Week 2 of the preseason will take place on Thursday, August 17, 2017,
at 7 p.m. ET at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Week 2 NFL Preseason Opening Odds at BookMaker.eu
Odds Analysis
Head coach Sean McDermott failed to get the cover in his first game with the Bills. McDermott’s Bills were able to go into halftime tied at three, but Minnesota moved the ball right down the field in the first two drives of the second half and put Buffalo away.
Now Doug Pederson knows what it’s like to lose his first preseason game. The Eagles coach went 4-0 in the preseason in 2016, but a 17-point second quarter from the Packers doomed Philly.
Both teams played games that ended up going under the total.
Players to Watch
It would be crazy not to mention the two players that were just traded for each other in this spot.
Buffalo must have liked what it saw on film from Jordan Matthews. Matthews was the second-leading receiver on the Eagles last season and the Bills decided to trade for him and subsequently make him their No. 1 guy after they traded Sammy Watkins.
Matthews is more polished than rookie wide receiver Zay Jones and more talented than veteran Anquan Boldin at this stage of his career. He should be the team’s deep threat.
Philadelphia swapped Matthews for former first-round pick Ronald Darby. Darby was emerging as a lockdown cornerback in Buffalo, but will now be switching schemes and it will be interesting to see how he responds. The Eagles defense likes to run a lot of press coverage and Darby didn’t do much of that in Buffalo.
Darby will be counted upon to be Philadelphia’s No. 1 cornerback and should fit nicely into the scheme once he learns the nuances. It will be particularly interesting to see how he does if he is matched up in man coverage across from Matthews.
Matchup to Watch
The other thing to watch in this preseason affair is how Carson Wentz plays against this brand-new Buffalo Bills secondary. With the trade of Darby, Buffalo has four new starters in its secondary. Tre’Davious White was a lockdown cornerback at LSU and his emergence early in training camp helped make the trade of Darby possible. He will be paired with EJ Gaines, who the Bills just picked up from the Rams. Gaines has a ton of talent, but suffered a Lisfranc injury in 2015 and those injuries are notoriously difficult to come back from.
Wentz seems to be adjusting well to the NFL and has new weapons in wide receivers Alshon Jeffery and Torrey Smith. However, the speculation is that rookie Mack Hollins was part of the reason why Matthews was available. Hollins had a very nice performance against the Packers in the opener and caught a touchdown pass from Wentz. If he can perform where Nelson Agholor hasn’t as the No. 3 receiver, this offense can take off.
Free ATS Pick
There aren’t going to be many times to take Buffalo in the regular season, but this is a good time to back the Bills. Buffalo just made some big changes and has already shown that it is willing to have the first-team on the field for a significant amount of time. McDermott and company have a lot more kinks to iron out and that should lead to the team putting forth more effort and getting the win.
Week 2 NFL Preseason Odds: Bills 27 Eagles 13
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