The last time we saw Sam Darnold, he put up three points in the first three quarters of a Week 17 game in Buffalo against the Bills' backups. Now the Jets return to Buffalo to face a defense that returned all of its key players, while reloading up front with Mario Addison, rookie A.J. Epenesa and underrated super sub Quinton Jefferson. It's a difficult matchup for the Jets. No team relies more on short passing and no defense is better at patiently waiting out mistakes, especially with football's best coverage linebacker duo in Matt Milano and Tremaine Edmunds.
Buffalo Bills 22, New York Jets 9
What to watch for: This is Stefon Diggs' and Josh Allen's first game together, and it comes against a mediocre Jets secondary. Look for the third-year quarterback to target the Bills' new star wide receiver often as they continue to build chemistry with one another. -- Marcel Louis-Jacques
Bold prediction: The Jets will score only one touchdown, and it won't happen until late in the game. In his past six games against Sean McDermott-coached defenses, Adam Gase's offenses haven't scored more than 21 points -- and the average per game is just 16.5. The Jets' offense has so many new pieces that it's hard to imagine an efficient performance. -- Rich Cimini
What to know for fantasy: The Bills' Allen has just one touchdown pass in his career against the Jets (78 passes thrown), but he has scored 25.9 fantasy points with his legs in his two full games against the divisional rival.
Betting nugget: The underdog has won four of the past five meetings outright in this series.
Cimini's pick: Bills 24, Jets 13
Louis-Jacques' pick: Bills 31, Jets 10
The Bills are coming off a playoff season, while the Jets are trying to build something. Buffalo is the much better team. They will limit the Jets offense here and Josh Allen should have a big game against the Jets defense. Bills big.
Pick: Bills 27, Jets 10
Jets (+6.5) at Bills
MDS's take: This is a big season for the Jets to find out what they have in Sam Darnold and the Bills to find out what they have in Josh Allen. In the long term I think Darnold will have the better career, but on Sunday I like Allen's team to win.
MDS's pick: Bills 17, Jets 10.
Florio's take: Last year, the Jets had the Bills on the ropes in Week One. This year, maybe the Jets can punch them through. New York finished the year 6-2 and the roster is better now than it was last year.
Florio's pick: Jets 24, Bills 21.
