On Monday Night Football, the New England Patriots will travel to New Era Field in Orchard Park, New York to take on the Bills. This Monday Night Football matchup will kick off at 8:15 PM. ET.
The Patriots are coming off a dramatic win over the Chicago Bears in week 7. New England held a late lead over the Bears and appeared to have the game in hand. However, with only twenty-four seconds remaining in the game, Mitchell Trubitsky managed to orchestrate a late drive that resulted in a hail mary to the Patriots’ one-yard line as time expired. The Patriots may have dodged a late collapse in that one, but a win is a win and the Patriots look like the clear favorites in the AFC.
Despite all their issues on offense, the Bills have actually played pretty well on the other side of the ball. On defense, the Bills rank fourth in total yards allowed per game. The Bills are by no means an elite defense, but they do a lot of things well. They rank 15th in the league in terms of sacks and lead the league in forced fumbles according to NFL Stats. While the Bills are huge underdogs against the Patriots, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Buffalo make a few big plays on the defensive side of the ball. The bigger question is will the offense be able to do anything against the Patriots defense?
The Patriots are winning but it’s not always pretty.
The Patriots are coming into this Monday Night Football matchup on a four-game winning streak. The issue with the Patriots is their defense. They’re struggling to cover and create pressure. According to NFL Stats, the Patriots rank 31st in the league in terms of sacks this season. The Patriots pass rush hasn’t been up to par this year and it’s affecting the coverage. New England has sacked opposing quarterbacks just 9 times this season; by comparison, the Bills defense has 19 sacks.
The defensive line’s struggles have a trickle-down effect. The lack of a pass rush has put more pressure on the secondary and that unit has struggled through the first half of the season. The Patriots rank 27th in the NFL allowing 275 yards passing yards per game, according to NFL Stats. The Patriots won’t have to worry about the Bills passing attack this week, but looking at upcoming weeks when they face some fierce passing attacks, the Patriots concern level should be high.
The Bills’ defense is better than their record indicates.
The Bills have one of the better defenses in the NFL, but it’s hard to play consistent defense when the offense never gets anything going. According to NFL Stats, the Bills’ offense ranks 31st in yards per game. They rank dead last in the NFL in terms of points, averaging an anemic 11.6 points per game. On the season they only have 3 receiving touchdowns as a team. Let that sink in for a moment. Three receiving touchdowns as a team. The lack of production by the Bills is almost unbelievable in a league that’s more and more focused on offense and scoring.
Last week against the Colts the Bills scored 5 points. Scoring 5 points in a football game is not a normal occurrence and speak to the struggles of this Bills’ offense. Regardless of how well the Bills’ defense can play, and they can play well, it’s hard to win when you’re offense cannot put points on the board.
Bills Vs Patriots Betting Lines
BetOnline.ag has the Patriots favored to win the game by -13.5 point. The over/under on total points scored is 44. You can read our full BetOnline review here.
My Pick
The Patriots are easy favorites in this matchup, but then the question becomes by how much will they win by? The spread is 13 points and that seems almost too low. The Patriots rarely show up not ready to play, and since this is a primetime game expect the team to be dialed in. While the Patriots most likely won’t score at a record pace, and won’t need to, they’ll certainly put up enough points to win this game going away. Go with the Patriots to win big.
Play: Patriots -13.5 @ BetOnline.ag
2018 Monday Night Football • Buffalo Bills betting • New England Patriots betting • NFL Week 8 Betting Pick