Preseason: Carolina Panthers vs Buffalo Bills 8/26/22 NFL Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Carolina Panthers and Buffalo Bills clash Friday night in week 3 NFL preseason action from Bank of America Stadium.

The Buffalo Bills will be out to build on their 42-15 rout of the Denver Broncos in their last preseason game to improve to 2-0. Josh Allen threw for 46 yards and a score in his limited action while Case Keenum had 192 yards and a TD on 16 of 18 passing and Matt Barkley had 65 yards on 7 of 8 passing. Raheem Blackshear added 58 rushing yards to lead the Bills while Duke Johnson had 55 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns. Devin Singletary and James Cook each had 39 and 38 rushing yards respectively, while Zack Moss added a pair of rushing scores of his own. Khalil Shakir had a team-high 3 grabs for 59 yards while Gabriel Davis had 47 receiving yards and a TD. Stefon Diggs added a pair of catches for 33 yards while O.J. Howard added a receiving TD as well. On defense, Baylon Spector had a team-high 8 total tackles while Andre Smith and Ja’Marcus Ingram each had a team-high 6 solo tackles. Eli Ankou also added a sack in the win.

The Carolina Panthers will hope to bounce back from a 20-10 loss to New England in their last preseason outing to fall to 1-1. PJ Walker threw for 107 yards and 2 interceptions on 8 of 15 passing while Chuba Hubbard rushed for a team-high 22 yards on 6 carries. Derek Wright’s lone reception led the Panthers with 32 receiving yards while Keith Kirkwood had a pair of grabs for 31 yards. On defense, Sean Chandler led the Panthers with 8 total tackles including 5 solo tackles while Brandon Smith and Julian Stanford each had a sack.

Buffalo is 4-1-1 ATS in their last 6 games overall and 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games on grass while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 road games. Carolina is 2-12 ATS in their last 14 games overall and 7-19-1 ATS in their last 27 home games while the over is 6-2 in their last 8 games overall.

I’m trying to fathom why the Panthers would be favored here. I know week 3 is usually the time where we see little to no first-string action, but the Panthers have shown me little across the board to actually be impressed with what they’ve got going coming into this game. They squeaked by Washington and couldn’t solve New England and now they’re expected to take down a Bills team that is playing some of the best ball in the preseason and just hung six scores on Denver with the majority of their play being done with their backups as it were. I’ll side with the Bills here and the points.