NFL football is just a week away! Well, sort of. As per tradition, the NFL will open the preseason with the annual Hall of Fame game with the New York Giants facing off against the Buffalo Bills on August 3.
The game will be held a day after the NFL formally enshrines its 2014 Hall of Fame class namely Derrick Brooks, Ray Guy, Claude Humphrey, Walter Jones, Andre Reed, Michael Strahan, and Aeneas Williams. Read on for more insights regarding this game, and check out our team previews for the Giants, Bills, and other heavyweights like the Seattle Seahawks, to get informed before the action kicks off Sunday.
[sc:Football ]Buffalo Bills vs. New York Giants Betting Preview
Where: Fawcett Stadium, Canton, Ohio
When: Sunday, August 3, 8:00 PM ET
Line: New York Giants (-110) at Buffalo Bills (-110); total: 32.5 – see all NFL lines
Why This Game Matters
[sc:NFL240banner ]Apart from honoring the past legends of the game with Michael Strahan (won the Super Bowl with the Giants in 2007) and Andre Reed (Bills all-time leading receiver), the Hall of Fame game provides the teams taking part in it an extra preseason game to help them in their preparations for the upcoming NFL wars. Teams have four preseason games under their belt each season but the Bills and the Giants will get five games this year because of this match.
Betting on the Buffalo Bills
A brand new year, another fresh start for the Bills who finished dead last in the AFC East for the sixth year running. In fact, the Bills’ last playoff appearance was way back in 1995 and the legions of Buffalo fans will be desperate for their team to start off on the right note this time around.
This year, the road to respectability starts in Canton, Ohio where they meet the New York Giants in the 2014 Hall of Fame game. It is a perfect opportunity for head coach Doug Marrone to gauge where his team is at before the start of the preseason as well as for the Bills to pay tribute to their departed owner Ralph Wilson who passed away last March 25.
The Bills opened their campaign last season with a solid 2-2 start, beating the Carolina Panthers and the Baltimore Ravens while narrowly losing to eventual AFC East winners New England Patriots and the New York Jets. Unfortunately for the Bills, it all went downhill from there as they lost five out of their next six games on their way to a disappointing 6-10 record.
There were a few positives though to take from their 2013 campaign. They were the second-best running team in the NFL, posting a 144.2 rushing yard per game total. On the defensive end, they held their 204.4 passing yards per game which was fourth best in the entire league.
The Hall of Fame game will also be the first time Bills fans can take a good look on former Clemson wide receiver Sammy Watkins, who was drafted fourth overall in the first round. Considered by many as the most explosive receiver in this year’s draft and the best receiver prospect to come into the NFL since A.J. Green and Julio Jones entered the league in 2011, Buffalo fans will be paying close attention to Watkins and if he can live up to the hype and help improve Buffalo’s passing game which was the fifth worst in the NFL last year with a measly 193.9 yard per game clip.
Create a betting account now and see if you can pick who among these teams can win this inaugural preseason game for the 2014 season.
Betting on the New York Giants
The Giants surprised the media and fans this offseason by spending big on free agent recruits as they try to bounce back from a disappointing 2013 season where they missed the playoffs for the second-consecutive year.
They invested in defensive backs from last year’s Super Bowl teams, acquiring former Broncos cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and former Seahawks cornerback Walter Thurmond to address the glaring problems in their secondary.
This game will feature the debut of offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo who was the former tight ends and quarterback coach of the Green Bay Packers. Apart from retooling an offense that was ranked near the bottom in yards per game and points per game last season, his main task is to find ways to reinvigorate the career of quarterback Eli Manning.
Manning had a miserable campaign last year, finishing with a league-worst 27 interceptions. He threw fewer than 20 touchdown passes (18) for the first time since he became the Giants starter back in 2005 and he had his least accurate season of the past six years with a lowly 57.5 percent completion rate.
McAdoo will employ an up-tempo style of offense this year with the Giants targeting around 70 or more plays per game this year which is way up from their 61.75 snaps per game stat line last season. This game will be a good indicator of where the Giants are right now in terms of learning this new kind of offense.
Writer’s Prediction
The Giants will show their new offensive capabilities and emerge triumphant over the Bills.
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