Buffalo Bills vs New York Jets 2012 NFL Week 1 Point Spreads

This year, the American Football Conference’s East promises to be one of the most competitive divisions in all of football. This means that the importance of every intra-conference game will be magnified when it comes to the 2012 AFC playoff race.

To get things off on the right foot, two teams looking to bounce back from disappointing seasons will meet in week 1. Last year, the Buffalo Bills appeared to be on their way to contention before falling apart in the second half of the season.

For the New York Jets, the arrival of Rex Ryan catapulted this team from a pretender to an immediate contender. Nevertheless, after missing the playoffs for the first time as Jets head coach, coach Ryan is back with his Super Bowl predictions and a new offensive coordinator in Tony Sparano.

Adding a new element to the mix was the offseason addition of former Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow. After taking the Denver Broncos — a team once left for dead after a 1-4 start — to the playoffs a year ago, the Green Machine thought it was worth it to go after the unorthodox quarterback when Peyton Manning decided that he would end his career in the Mile High.

With the Jets expected to implement the wildcat offense this season, the former Miami Dolphins head coach’s experience with Tebow thus far has been very positive.

“Fundamentally, Tim has gotten much better,” Sparano said. “You could see the amount of time he spent at it … He’s completely different now than he was when he came out of college.”

As far as potential friction between Tebow and Mark Sanchez, Sparano is doing his best to downplay the situation. It’s going to be interesting to see if Jets fans will take the approach Broncos fans took when their starting quarterback got off to a rough start. According to Sparano, competition gets the best out of some individuals, which is the case of Sanchez and Tebow.

“I’m not concerned about that, honestly,” he added. “At the end of this whole thing, it’s about trying to find good football players. Mark Sanchez is one hell of a player … and Tim Tebow is a good football player, too.

“When you put both of those guys in a room, if they’re playing checkers, they’re going to compete and they’re going to go like heck to win. I think the more of these people you can get around your football team, the better off your team is going to be … I don’t think there will be a problem managing it.”

How well will the Jets’ new experiment work when they start the season against a team looking to take the next step like the Bills are?

For what it’s worth, 2012 NFL Week 1 Point Spreads specialists list the Jets as favored by two safeties at -4 over the underdog Bills at +5. In addition, the projected OVER/UNDER line for this contest is set at a combined total of 42½ points scored.

This game is scheduled to tipoff Sunday afternoon at 1 PM ET from MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Sign up to receive free 2012 NFL Picks from the best football experts in the world!

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