Cardinals - Bills betting trends: Pick, odds, point spread and over/under prediction | NFL week 1

Last season was essentially a failure for the Cardinals who went just 4-13, however, there were signs of encouragement after star quarterback Kyler Murray returned from a torn ACL to go 3-5 in the eight starts that he got. Needless to say, Murray and Co. will be looking to spoil the party when they travel to Buffalo this weekend.

Cardinals - Bills: The lay of the land

As mentioned above, the Cardinals didn’t have the best campaign in 2023. The Bills by contrast did somewhat better with a 7-2 record and will be looking to improve on that despite a few significant changes to the roster. Indeed, with the aforementioned Diggs now playing for the Texans and fellow wide receiver Gabe Davis a member of the Jaguars roster, the Bills will be looking to win the AFC East with new players surrounding quarterback Josh Allen. It’s at that point that we come to the odds themselves which do favor the Bills but don’t account for a few things that we will. See below:

Now, as much as the Bills are clearly favored in this one, something tells us that they’re going to have to bring their A-game if they are to get the better of the Cardinals in Week 1. Consider for a moment that Arizona was 9-8 against the spread as an underdog, and was 3-5 straight with Kyler Murray under center. What’s more is that the Cardinals’ losses in 2023 were only by a margin of 7.4 points and the large majority of them were during Murray’s absence.

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This is all to say that it won’t be surprising if the Allen and the Bills who now have a brand-new receiving corps, struggle to put points on the board. Buffalo was just 5-5 against the spread as a home favorite last season, winning those games by an average margin of 12.9 points per game. While there were some dominant wins, the Bills did in fact upset at home. There were some blowouts, but the Bills were also upset at home.

Ultimately, the Bills are likely the solid bet in this one but expect this game to be close. With a points total of 47, it’s likely we see both teams in the 20s, meaning the Cardinals will probably keep this game within one possession. Our score prediction? Bills, 23, Cardinals 20.