Buffalo Bills: Keys to victory and final score prediction for Week 1

Will the Buffalo Bills be able to beat the New York Jets in Week 1 at home without the presence of Bills Mafia?

Although the Buffalo Bills finished the 2019 season with a 1-1 record against the Jets, their final matchup was not much for evaluation as the Bills did not play their starters in Week 17 with a playoff berth already clinched. On the other hand, there is plenty to pick apart from last year’s Week 1 clash between these two teams.

In that game, the Bills narrowly escaped with a 17-16 victory off the game-winning touchdown throw from Bills quarterback Josh Allen to the then newly added Bills wide receiver John Brown. The driving story of that game was the Bills’ difficulty to move the football against a tough Jets defense led by C.J. Mosley and Jamal Adams. However, once Mosley was sidelined from that matchup due to injury, the Bills offense found much more success putting together quality drives.

This time around the Bills will have the luxury of facing the Jets defense without either of these two impact players. Mosley decided to opt-out of the 2020 season, while Adams was recently traded to the Seattle Seahawks. On top of the losses on the defensive side of the ball, the Jets lost key pass-catcher Robby Anderson this offseason as well.

Of course, both teams made key additions to their rosters this offseason that will give them better chances at success, but the main difference is that the Jets lost multiple core players while the Bills retained most of their core, if not all of it. This factor certainly gives the competitive edge to the Bills in this week one matchup against the New York Jets.