Buffalo Bills vs. New York Giants: 3 Bold predictions for Week 2

The Buffalo Bills travel south in Week 2 to face an ailing New York Giants team. Three bold predictions for the cross-conference matchup on Sunday.

Things looked bleak in the first half of Week 1 for Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills as they fell behind handily to the Jets. However, the team fought back valiantly in the final two quarters and ultimately secured a comeback victory to move to 1-0. As for their Week 2 opponent, the New York Giants, things looked bleak early on and stayed that way in their season-opener.

Now that the Bills and Giants are set to meet in the second week of the season at MetLife Stadium, both teams are looking to improve off of their first games of the year, though for different reasons. Buffalo wants to submit a complete effort while the G-Men want to look respectable.

Given the injuries and suspensions for the Giants that will leave Eli Manning without Golden Tate and Sterling Shepard for this game, though, that may be hard for New York. And facing Ed Oliver and the underrated Bills defense won’t help either. What could be key, though, is how Allen and the Buffalo offense perform against a shaky Big Blue defense.

More from NFL Spin Zone

• Dallas Cowboys made the trade everyone else should have made
• Pittsburgh Steelers rookie sleeper everyone should be talking about
• Anthony Richardson putting jaw-dropping talent on display immediately
• Denver Broncos’ stud wide receiver might be out for a while
• Washington Commanders: Three takeaways from win over Ravens

Taking all of that into account, let’s make some bold predictions for this matchup on Sunday afternoon.

3. Saquon notches 200+ total yards

With the already weak New York Giants receiving corps further depleted in this matchup, there really figures to only be two weapons of note for Big Blue: Saquon Barkley and Evan Engram. And though the Bills can key in on stopping both, the former still has the talent to have a big day if he’s heavily featured.

Barkley wasn’t used as much as many expected in Week 1, which likely contributed to the Giants getting shellacked. Expect that to change in this game, though, as head coach Pat Shurmur should look to get the second-year running back as many touches as possible. With his immense talent and ability to break off big plays, Barkley will have a monster day on the stat sheet with over 200 total yards — even if that’s just about all New York does offensively all day.

2. Brown goes off for 150 receiving yards

The jury is still out on Josh Allen in regards to his ceiling as an NFL quarterback. Having said that, he’s still a tremendous threat to get big chunks of yardage with long downfield passes. And after offseason additions this summer, he has a player that can help with that in wide receiver John Brown. The veteran pass-catcher showed that in Week 1 as he connected with Allen for seven receptions, 123 yards and a touchdown.

New York’s secondary was absolutely shredded by Dallas last week with Michael Gallup going for 158 yards, Amari Cooper earning 106 of his own and Randall Cobb even pitching in 69 yards. Given the weakness in the Giants’ secondary and the potential for big plays from Brown with Allen throwing to him, the former Cardinal should have a monster outing on the road in Week 2.

1. Bills rout Giants by at least two scores

As uninspiring as the Bills were overall in Week 1, they are simply the better team when you stack them up against the Giants. There just seemingly aren’t many things that New York does well in their current state outside of Barkley. When you match that up against a strong Buffalo defense and also factor in the splash-play ability of Buffalo’s offense, that appears to be a bad recipe for the G-Men.

When the 60 minutes have run off the clock, Allen and the Bills will have put forth a dominant effort that results in a big win over the Giants. Beyond Barkley, Big Blue’s offense will be entirely stifled while the Bills offense will look more consistent and improved from their uneven showing in Week 1.