8/8/14 Bills @ Panthers Recommendation: Bills -1.5 The Bills were able to get rid of all their preseasonjitters in the “Hall of Fame” game, a contest in which they actually outplayedthe Giants, despite losing. Buffalo is likely to be one of the surprise teamsin the league this year, much like the Panthers were last year. How far theBills go this year will largely depend on QB E.J. Manuel. Manuel didn’t play well in the opener but expect a bettereffort from him in this situation. He’ll be looking to connect with the 4thoverall pick in the draft, Sammy Watkins. In a draft that was very deep at the WRposition, the Bills gave up a lot to secure Watkins, and in turn, there’s a lotof pressure on him. The stars won’t play much in this one, so look for C.J.Spiller and Fred Jackson to be on the sidelines for most of the game. Buffalois very high on 3rd string RB Bryce Brown, who ran well in the HOFgame. Brown will receive the bulk load of the carries in this one, as they wantto see what he can do and possibly make a trade to get better at a different position. You can expect a tremendous drop-off from the Panthers thisseason. This team got worse in pretty much every way possible. They lost theirfranchise receiver in Steve Smith, and didn’t bring much in, so lack of talentat the WR position will be very costly. Newton will be throwing to all new faces, so his timing willdefinitely be off. He is also coming off of ankle surgery in the offseason, sohe won’t be playing much at all in this one. The Panthers have holes at prettymuch every position, especially on the offensive side. With the Bills havingalready played a game, along with the significant talent gap between these twosquads, look for the Bills to cover the number in this one. Take the Bills.
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