Long-suffering Buffalo Bills fans enjoyed playoff football last season for the first time in almost two decades after the team marched to a 9-7 record and an AFC wild card berth.
However, with the team undergoing several personnel changes during the off-season, and quarterback A.J. McCarron now sidelined indefinitely after suffering a shoulder injury in last week’s 19-17 win over the Cleveland Browns, the Bills are pegged as an underdog +450 wager on the odds to make the NFL playoffs at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Buffalo parted ways with a number of key members of last season’s playoff-bound squad, including quarterback Tyrod Taylor, lineman Richie Incognito, and tackle Cordy Glenn. However, with McCarron sidelined, opportunity knocks for quarterback Josh Allen, whom the Bills selected with the seventh pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.
Allen is expected to see plenty of action when Buffalo hosts the Cincinnati Bengals as 1.5-point home favourites on the NFL pre-season odds on Sunday afternoon, and he sits as a +1000 wager on the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year odds.
While the Bills have plummeted on the odds to make the NFL playoffs, the division-rival New England Patriots have soared to a short -1500 bet to make a 10th straight post-season appearance. Led by quarterback Tom Brady, who returns to action at +850 on the NFL MVP odds, the Patriots have posted double-digit win totals in each of the past 15 seasons, and have opened as heavy -750 favourites to win the AFC East title for a 10th straight year.
New England is the only AFC East squad expected to see playoff action, with the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins listed as lengthy +600 and +500 bets to earn a playoff berth.
A trio of squads that missed the playoffs in 2017 have emerged as favourites to return to the post-season fray this time around. Hobbled by the loss of quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the Green Bay Packers finished outside the playoff picture with a 7-9 record last season, but open the season sporting -170 odds to make the post-season on those NFL props.
The Los Angeles Chargers are a -145 bet to reach the playoffs and narrow +175 chalk to claim the AFC West title, while the Houston Texans hope to rebound from a dismal 4-12 campaign and sport -135 odds of claiming a playoff berth this season.
Elsewhere on the odds to make the NFL playoffs, the Dallas Cowboys are listed as a -125 wager to win UNDER 8.5 games and sport underdog +145 odds of reaching the post-season, while the Pittsburgh Steelers trail only New England with -550 odds of seeing playoff action.
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