When they beat the New England Patriots early in the year, the best sportsbooks began to take the Buffalo Bills seriously. But as the season wore on, Buffalo began to look less and less impressive. Instead of outscoring their opponents by two possessions, the Bills began to lose their contests and as things stand now, Buffalo is on a 3-game losing streak. For a while the Bills appeared to be legitimate playoff contenders, but at 4-5 they find themselves in 3rd place within the AFC East. It seems that the Bills victory against New England was nothing more than a coincidence but at the very least it gave us very funny reaction from Ben Affleck when he heard about the score at the fourth quarter of the game.
Surprisingly enough for a Rex Ryan team, most of Buffalo’s problems lie on the defensive side of the ball. The Bills are 9th in scoring their running game is the 2nd best in the NFL, and they have a +7 turnover ratio. Which means that Buffalo can put points on the board, maintain ball possession, and run out the clock. The only problem is that their defense is consistently giving up big passing plays, especially in the 4th quarter. In Week 11, the Bills will try to get their first win in over a month against the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals have the 10th best passing offense in the league; given how susceptible the Bills have been to an elite passing game these last few weeks, what kind of NFL football betting odds are the best sportsbooks putting together for this contest?
NFL Odds – Week 11 – Sunday, November 20th
Cincinnati Bengals -2½ (-117) 47½ (-110) -140
Buffalo Bills +2½ (-103) 47½ (-110) +120
Disregarding the fact that the Bengals have less wins than Buffalo, the odds are still pegging Buffalo as the underdog. Which is a bit of a surprise because the Bengals are coming in on a disappointing streak of their own. Although it’s not exactly a losing streak, it’s certainly not a win streak. In their last contest the Bengals lost a nail-biter against the New York Giants 21-20. The week before that, Cincinnati ended up tying with the Washington Redskins 27-27. This upcoming Sunday, the Bengals won’t have to face another NFC East opponent, rather one that hails from the AFC East. But in order to win, Cincinnati will have to overcome Rex Ryan’s intimidating tirades.
“I’m tired of mistakes and I think we’ve got to get better physically as well,” Ryan told the media on Wednesday. “And if that’s through technique and all that, that’s what it’s going to be. I’m not here to make friends, man. I’m here to win.”
Although Ryan’s comments aren’t enough to sway the best sportsbooks they certainly are enough to light a fire under his players. We’ll have to see who, if anyone, steps up to heed the call.
