Best Opening Lines for Bills, Giants, & Jets in NFL Week 3

The 2022 NFL season continued with another compelling weekend. Some notable upsets and injuries caused chaos among bettors and will most likely swing the NFL Week 3 opening lines in dramatic fashion. For the three teams in New York state, early odds favor the Bills and Giants, while the Jets remain underdogs despite last week’s victory.

Opening lines for NFL Week 3 action stabilize after Week 2’s dramatic reaction to the Week 1 results. Interestingly, the odds for this weekend’s games do not feature a single double-digit underdog. What’s more, there’s not a single favorite laying more than a touchdown early on. 

So far this season, home teams hold a 17-14-1 edge covering against the spread. Underdogs enjoy a 17-13-1 mark against the spread through two weeks of action, with home underdogs posting an 8-5-1 record specifically. The Under continues to dominate early this season, going 21-10-1 thus far. 

Here’s a look at the best opening lines for New York’s three NFL teams, the Buffalo Bills, New York Giants, and New York Jets.

The Buffalo Bills travel to South Florida for Sunday’s game against their AFC East division rival, the Miami Dolphins. This game remains the lone matchup between undefeated teams as both enter 2-0 both straight up and against the spread. The Bills saw their futures odds shorten across the board after Week 1, and they remain the betting favorites after Week 2. 

Buffalo dominated on Monday Night Football, pounding the Tennessee Titans 41-7, covering as 10-point favorites along the way. The Dolphins, meanwhile, staged a comeback for the ages in Baltimore last week, stunning the Ravens 42-38 despite trailing 35-14 entering the fourth quarter. Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa threw for 469 yards and six touchdowns, including four in the fourth quarter, to help lead the Dolphins to victory. 

The look-ahead for this contest had Buffalo favored by four. However, the Bills have looked dominant early this season, so the opening line for this Week 3 grudge match gave the Bills a 5.5-point spread to start. 

One trend to consider before betting this opening line in Week 3, conference underdogs of six points or fewer sport a 216-141 mark against the spread since 2019. What’s more, Tagovailoa enjoys an 8-3 mark against the spread as an underdog so far in his career. The Dolphins will have both the home field and rest advantage in this one. 

The total has climbed to 52.5 points in some sportsbooks following the Week 2 performances by these offenses. The Bills have seen the Over hit in 13 of their last 19 road games, but Miami’s seen the Under in six of Tagovailoa’s nine AFC East start (including both versus the Bills in 2021).

The New York Giants are 2-0 for the first time since 2016. The G-Men didn’t register their second win of the season in 2021 until Week 10 of the campaign, and now, they’re perhaps the most unlikely favorites among the opening lines for Week 3. The Giants are eyeing a 3-0 start, something the team hasn’t done since 2009.

The injury to Dak Prescott in Week 1 altered the look-ahead line for this ballgame. New York’s defensive success has buoyed the Giants odds in this matchup as well. But Dallas heads to MetLife with one of the league’s top defenses, as they’ve held both Tampa Bay and Cincinnati to under 20 points. New York’s offense averages just 20 points per game through the first two weeks, too. That said, the Cowboys offense hasn’t been able to consistently score, and the Giants’ defense has been a strength early on.  

Early action with this ballgame seemed to move the opening line for this Week 3 game from three to 2.5 points in favor of the Giants. Dallas’ defense and recent results (9-1 versus the Giants over the last 10) pushed action toward the Cowboys. It doesn’t help that the Giants have lost six straight on Monday Night Football. 

The total slimmed from 40 to 39.5 almost across the board, with fits the trend that sees six straight divisional home games for New York hit the Under.

The New York Jets avoided an 0-2 start to their season with a thrilling come-from-behind victory in Cleveland last week. The Jets rallied from a 13-point deficit in the game’s final two minutes, thanks to a pair of touchdowns passes from Joe Flacco. ESPN Analytics listed the Jets with a 0.1 percent chance to beat the Browns prior to the comeback. 

The Jets saw their opening lines for Week 3 set them as 4.5-point underdogs against the defending AFC Champions, the Cincinnati Bengals. The number moved to five in some sportsbooks, as many bettors see this as a must-win game for the Bengals at this point. Cincinnati’s has slipped to a 0-2 start early on and need to avoid an 0-3 hole if they want to make a playoff run in 2022. 

The Bengals upgraded their offensive line in the offseason, but pass protection remains an issue. Joe Burrow’s been sacked an NFL-most 13 times thus far, but he’s facing a Jets pass rush that’s produced just three sacks through two weeks. 

The Jets enter this contest 1-5 in their past six games as home underdogs, including a 15-point loss to the Ravens (6.5-point favorites) in Week 1. That said, Gang Green enjoys a 10-4 mark straight up in their last 14 games against the Bengals. Early action pushed the total from the opening lines from 43.5 to 45.5 in some sportsbooks.