Buffalo at Cleveland

Joe Brady and Todd Monken struck a similar deal this week: get what they need from the ones in Thursday's joint practice, and lean on the backups once the game starts. Josh Allen already banked his tape in the opener, so Buffalo's offense today runs through Kyle Allen and Shane Buechele, a pair of players who have logged real regular-season snaps between them. Cleveland is handing the start to Shedeur Sanders after Deshaun Watson opened the preseason last week, and Monken has said most of his roster will see the field in some form today. That's a rotation still figuring itself out, which says more about organizational uncertainty than it does about who is actually good. That gap in experience and stability favors Buffalo's group behind center, and both defenses are leaning on roster-bubble players trying to save their jobs before cutdowns, the kind of units that miss assignments and give up chunk plays. That combination pushes scoring up while giving Buffalo's steadier group a path to an outright win. Side with Buffalo on the moneyline, with the OVER as the companion bet this afternoon.