It's Week 4 of the 2022 NFL season, so you know what that means. It's time to run through the latest fantasy football rankings. Obviously. Focusing on the four...
There are two key steps behind fielding a quality fantasy football team. First, find the best and most consistent players. Second, you identify the best...
Bleacher Report’s NFL experts
had a taste of what it’s like to finish above .500. Now, they will look to
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Lamar Jackson, Ravens Open as 3.5-Point Home Underdogs vs. Josh Allen, Bills
Sep 27, 2022
FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS - SEPTEMBER 25: Lamar Jackson #8 of the Baltimore Ravens carries the ball against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on September 25, 2022 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Despite improving to 2-1 last week, the Baltimore Ravens opened as a 3.5-point underdog for Sunday's Week 4 home game against the Buffalo Bills, according to DraftKings.
The line is especially notable because it's only the third time the Ravens have been home underdogs since Lamar Jackson became the team's starting quarterback in 2018, per Todd Karpovich of Sports Illustrated.
Baltimore won both of its last two games as a home dog, upsetting the New England Patriots in 2019 and Kansas City Chiefs in 2021.
The Ravens did lose their lone home game this season to the Miami Dolphins thanks to a 21-point fourth-quarter comeback in Week 2, but they have been dominant at M&T Bank Stadium in recent years. With Jackson starting, the team is 20-5 at home in the regular season.
It could mean bad news for the Bills, which also lost to the Dolphins last week to fall to 2-1.
This should be an exciting battle either way, featuring two of the early contenders for MVP in Jackson and Josh Allen.
Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs Praised as NFL's Top QB-WR Combo as Bills Rout Titans on MNF
Sep 20, 2022
ORCHARD PARK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 19: Stefon Diggs #14 of the Buffalo Bills celebrates with teammate Josh Allen #17 after scoring a touchdown against the Tennessee Titans during the third quarter of the game at Highmark Stadium on September 19, 2022 in Orchard Park, New York. (Photo by Joshua Bessex/Getty Images)
The NFL schedule-makers seemingly did the Buffalo Bills no favors with early matchups against the reigning Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams and last season's No. 1 seed in the AFC, the Tennessee Titans.
It turns out, that doesn't really matter when Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs are on the roster.
Buffalo's dynamic duo led it to a dominant 41-7 victory over the Titans in Monday's AFC showdown, improving the team's record to 2-0 despite the daunting start to the season. The Bills looked every bit the part of Super Bowl contenders with Allen going 26-of-38 for 317 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions.
Diggs added 12 catches for 148 yards and three touchdowns as the pair earned nothing but praise on social media:
The Bills wasted no time setting the tone, with fullback Reggie Gilliam capping off the game's first drive with a touchdown catch. It was time for Allen and Diggs to take over from there, and the quarterback scrambled away from pressure and found his go-to receiver for another touchdown to open a two-score lead shortly before halftime.
That combo was just getting started and broke it open in the third quarter with two more touchdown strikes, one of which came on a 46-yard deep ball.
Diggs figured to draw the majority of the defensive attention with Gabe Davis sidelined because of an ankle injury, but Tennessee's secondary still had no chance against the two-time Pro Bowler's ability to blow past defenders and come down with contested catches.
It isn't difficult to envision this duo putting up monster numbers all the way to the Lombardi Trophy, and they will look to keep things rolling in Week 3 against the Miami Dolphins.
We are only two weeks into the NFL regular season schedule, but it already feels like the preseason playoff predictions need a makeover. Of course, it's never...
NFL MVP Odds 2022: Josh Allen Moves to +500 Betting Favorite After Win over Rams
Sep 9, 2022
INGLEWOOD, CA - SEPTEMBER 08: Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) passing during the NFL game between the Buffalo Bills and the Los Angeles Rams on September 8, 2022, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA. (Photo by Jevone Moore/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
If you want to place a bet on Josh Allen being named NFL MVP this season, do it now.
After an impressive performance in a 31-10 Week 1 win over the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday night at SoFi Stadium, the Buffalo Bills quarterback's odds jumped from +650 to +500 ($100 bet wins $500), per DraftKings Sportsbook.
Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills: +500
Tom Brady, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: +850
Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs: +900
Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers: +900
Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers: +1000
Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals: +1200
Russell Wilson, Denver Broncos: +1400
Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys: +1600
Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams: +2000
Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens: +2000
Allen completed 26 of 31 passes for 297 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. He also rushed for 56 yards and one score.
Even before the season started, Allen was projected to be one of the league's top candidates for the MVP award. If he can continue to play at a high level, he could become the first Bills player since running back Thurman Thomas in 1991 to win the honor.
A quarterback has won the MVP in each of the last nine seasons.
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Josh Allen, Bills Look Every Bit the Super Bowl Favorites They’re Hyped Up to Be
Sep 9, 2022
INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 08: Quarterback Josh Allen #17 of the Buffalo Bills looks to pass during the first quarter of the NFL game against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium on September 08, 2022 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
The defending-champion Los Angeles Rams took on the Buffalo Bills—the oddsmakers' 2022 Super Bowl favorite—to kick off the NFL season on Thursday night. When the dust settled, only one team looked the part.
The Bills didn't play a perfect game by any stretch of the imagination. Josh Allen had a pair of interceptions. Zack Moss had a late fumble that gave L.A. a final gasp. Rookie running back James Cook fumbled on his first professional carry.
Yet Buffalo still dominated the game in almost every way imaginable. Leslie Frazier's defense flustered Matthew Stafford early and often. The offense clicked throughout the game. Former Ram-turned-Bill Von Miller? He's still a difference-maker.
Final score: Bills 31, Rams 10. If not for Buffalo's miscues, it could have been even uglier.
Buffalo came into the season with no glaring weaknesses. The Bills did have a few questions, but they answered most of them on Thursday. One game won't define a season, but Sean McDermott's squad looks like the team to beat right now.
Josh Allen's Evolution Continues
The biggest reason Buffalo is perceived as a Super Bowl contender is the presence of Allen. The 26-year-old Wyoming product is the epitome of a modern-day NFL quarterback. He's big, strong, can sling the ball anywhere on the field and can run around, over and through defenders.
What makes Allen truly amazing, though, is the growth he's shown over the past four-plus years. He was incredibly raw coming out of college—Allen finished his 2018 rookie campaign with a paltry 67.9 passer rating. That's lower than what New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson (69.7) posted as a rookie last year.
Allen has progressively gotten better since. He was a Pro Bowler in 2020 and took the Bills within a few plays of the AFC title game last season, tossing nine touchdown passes and no interceptions in two playoff games. On Thursday, he flashed the sort of accuracy and field awareness that seemed unfathomable during his inaugural season.
Allen completed 26 of 31 attempts and hit seven different receivers against Los Angeles. Those two interceptions look bad on the stat sheet, but one was a drop by Isaiah McKenzie.
The Rams defense—which is still loaded with talent, even after the Miller departure—struggled to contain Allen after going into halftime tied 10-10. His final stat line: 297 passing yards, three touchdowns, two interceptions, 56 rushing yards, one rushing touchdown.
Allen looks like an early favorite for MVP.
Questions Asked and (Mostly) Answered
The biggest questions surrounding Buffalo involved the departure of offensive coordinator Brian Daboll and receivers Emmanuel Sanders and Cole Beasley. Daboll had led the offensive game-planning since Allen was a rookie, while Sanders and Beasley combined for 1,319 yards and five touchdowns in 2021.
Under new coordinator Ken Dorsey, the Buffalo offense didn't miss a beat on Thursday. Dropping 31 points on the defending Super Bowl champions doesn't happen by accident.
And while replacing the tandem of Sanders and Beasley might be a challenge, Gabe Davis has settled in nicely as the new No. 2 target opposite Stefon Diggs.
Diggs led Buffalo with eight catches for 122 yards and a touchdown, and Davis (four catches, 88 yards, 1 TD) gave L.A.'s secondary plenty of trouble as well.
The Gabriel Davis breakout season is off to a GREAT start for fantasy football managers:pic.twitter.com/JGRax8zXAy
Buffalo had high expectations for Davis coming into the regular season.
"When I was in Bills camp, I was told with certainty that his four-TD
performance in the playoff loss at Kansas City was the start of
something big, not a fluke," Peter King of ProFootballTalk wrote. "He's a worker, and Josh Allen sees him as a great complement—not a distant number two—to Diggs."
Thus far, Davis has not disappointed.
The few problems the Bills showed Thursday seem mostly correctable. Both of Allen's interceptions involved his slot receivers—he was slightly off the mark to Jamison Crowder on the second. Buffalo will need to find some reliability there. The running game also remains a work-in-progress.
Allen led the Bills in rushing, while Devin Singletary, Moss and Cook combined for 65 yards. Fumbling didn't help the cause on the ground. It's worth noting that Singletary (6.0 yards per carry) and the running game as a whole (121 yards, 4.8 yards per carry) were effective.
Ball security can be stressed, and Dorsey can figure out a plan to make the ground game go. Perhaps the biggest remaining question is how good Buffalo can be when it plays four full quarters of clean football.
The Von Miller Factor
We can't talk about how dominant the Bills were on Thursday without mentioning Miller. The longtime Denver Broncos star and future Hall of Famer helped the Rams win Super Bowl LVI in February, and he helped put them away in Week 1.
Miller, who finished with four tackles, two sacks and three tackles for loss, was virtually unstoppable at times. If he's lost a step at age 33, it's not obvious.
For as impressive as Miller was individually, his impact on the Bills defensive front might have been even more eyebrow-raising. Buffalo had the league's No. 1-ranked defense and logged 42 sacks last season but never had "that guy" who could command a team's attention on the edge.
Mario Addison led Buffalo with seven sacks in 2021, and he was the only Bills player with more than four.
Miller is that guy, and he's going to open up a lot of opportunities for A.J. Epenesa and Boogie Basham. Stafford was sacked seven times on Thursday, and he tossed three interceptions and rarely appeared comfortable in the pocket.
Aside from Cooper Kupp (13 catches, 128 yards and a touchdown), most of the Rams offense seemed out of sorts.
While the Bills defense was already great, Miller makes it even more dangerous, and that's a problem for the other 15 teams in the AFC. Even when the Buffalo offense makes mistakes, as it did against L.A., the defense is likely to force just as many.
On Thursday, the Bills showed the NFL world that it's going to take a nearly perfect game by a very talented team—and perhaps a little good fortune—to beat them in 2022.
'Indefensible' Josh Allen Draws Andrew Luck, Derrick Henry Comps as Bills Rout Rams
Sep 9, 2022
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen signals during the first half of an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Rams Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
The Buffalo Bills defeated the reigning Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams 31-10 on Thursday night in their season opener at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, and Josh Allen looked great.
Allen, a potential MVP candidate, completed 26 of 31 passes for 297 yards and three touchdowns against two interceptions. He also rushed for 57 yards and one score on nine carries, which led the team.
The 26-year-old has made strides since his 2018 rookie season, and his greatness was on full display Thursday night as he passed for a couple of touchdowns, rushed for a score and even stiff-armed a defender.
Josh Allen being surgical in the short/intermediate areas of the field and learning to consistently take the safe throws available to him while also being a T-1000 is some terrifying shit.
If Allen continues to play as well as he did Thursday night, and perhaps better, he'll undoubtedly be in the MVP conversation.
Allen will look to continue his solid start to the 2022 campaign in Week 2 when the Bills host the Tennessee Titans at Highmark Stadium on Sept. 19.
NFL Execs Pick Josh Allen as 2022 NFL MVP over Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes
Sep 6, 2022
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - AUGUST 26: Josh Allen #17 of the Buffalo Bills smiles during warmups before a preseason game against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium on August 26, 2022 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
The Josh Allen MVP hype train appears full steam ahead.
NFL executives picked Allen as their favorite to capture the 2022 honor in a poll conducted by ESPN's Jeremy Fowler.
"He's got everything around him that he needs—Buffalo might have the best roster in the league—and he's set up for another massive season," an AFC executive told Fowler. "There's been enough growth as a passer where you're encouraged."
Allen is also the odds-on betting favorite for MVP, coming in at +650 at DraftKings Sportsbook. Tom Brady (+850), Patrick Mahomes (+900) and Justin Herbert (+900) are the only other players listed at better than 10-1 odds.
Aaron Rodgers, the reigning back-to-back-MVP, is in fifth place among the oddsmakers at +1000.
Allen threw for 4,407 yards and 36 touchdowns against 15 interceptions last season while adding 763 yards and six scores on the ground. He regressed a bit as a passer from his remarkable 2020 campaign, seeing his yards per attempt dip by more than a yard (7.9 to 6.8) while his interception rate increased to 2.3 percent.
It's likely Allen will have to be better as a passer in 2022 than he was last season to contend for the MVP.
That said, Buffalo has the talent for Allen to take another mini leap. Gabe Davis looks primed for a breakout season after his remarkable postseason, Stefon Diggs has reached perennial Pro Bowl status, and the team used a second-round pick on running back James Cook.
Couple that with an already-elite defense that added Von Miller, and the recipe for a 13- or 14-win season coupled with an Allen MVP is right there for the taking.
