Buffalo Bills at Cleveland Browns Picks and Prediction for Saturday, August 22, 2026
Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland hosts Preseason Week 2 at 1:00 PM ET on NFL Network as the Buffalo Bills (1-0) visit the Cleveland Browns (0-1) in an AFC rivalry tuneup with a deeply compelling subplot. Buffalo comes in off a 29-14 home win over Carolina last Saturday, covering the line as a 2.5-point favorite. Cleveland kicked off preseason play with a 34-10 shellacking at the hands of the Bears on the road, failing to cover the line as a 2.5-point underdog. The defining storyline heading into Saturday is not on the scoreboard but under center: Cleveland's ongoing quarterback competition between Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders gives the Browns a more compelling preseason setup than virtually any other team in the AFC, while Buffalo's quarterback situation could not be more settled. The Bills and Browns held joint practices at the Browns' Berea facility on Thursday, giving both coaching staffs their first official live look at each other before Saturday's 1:00 PM kickoff. Read on to find out who takes the W in our Bills vs. Browns preseason prediction. Get our top NFL Predictions and increase your bankroll!
Bills: Allen Almost Certainly Sits, But Brady's Depth Has Already Impressed
Buffalo enters Saturday riding real momentum. The Bills routed the Carolina Panthers 29-14 in their preseason opener. It was Josh Allen and the starting offense who set the tone, the starters drove for scores on both possessions, while the defense forced three-and-outs on Carolina's first three possessions. The Bills rolled up a 396-201 advantage in total offense and racked up 27 first downs to the Panthers' 18.
With the heavy lifting already done in live 11-on-11 work on Thursday at joint practice, neither Brady nor Monken is expected to lean on many starters Saturday, making this largely a depth evaluation. Both coaches agreed to use their starters for the majority of their joint practice this week, leaving the preseason game on Saturday to largely feature young players and backups. With Josh Allen unlikely to play and the Browns having a real QB battle right now, the practical outcome is that Buffalo's depth will be tested in a road environment without its best player.
Kyle Allen looked solid for the Bills in their first preseason game, completing 14-of-16 passes for 108 yards, a backup-quarterback performance that gives new head coach Joe Brady genuine confidence in the Bills' depth chart heading into Saturday's road trip. Despite a new, first-time head coach in Joe Brady and a new, first-time NFL defensive coordinator in Jim Leonhard, oddsmakers are bullish on Buffalo, sportsbooks have set the Bills' over/under regular-season win total at 10.5, putting Buffalo among the top contenders entering the regular season.
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Browns: Sanders Gets His Turn
Cleveland's ongoing quarterback competition between Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders is the central storyline of the Browns' entire preseason. Sanders is expected to start Saturday against Buffalo, while Watson should also see the field as Cleveland continues evaluating its quarterback battle. Sanders' first preseason game didn't go as well as he had hoped, completing 6-of-11 passes for 79 yards and an interception against Chicago. Watson managed just 126 yards on 11-of-15 passing and lost a fumble in the Bears loss. Neither performance built confidence, which makes Saturday's home game against Buffalo the most important individual evaluation opportunity either quarterback will receive before the regular season.
Cleveland's 2025 offensive numbers were historically bad, their 61.9% catch rate was the lowest in the entire NFL. Sanders and Watson are trying to fix that, but preseason games with backup-heavy rotations rarely produce clean, sustained drives. Buffalo is the Browns' Week 2 regular-season opponent on September 20, meaning this preseason matchup gives Todd Monken a rare double look at a division rival before the season begins, adding a schematic motivation to what might otherwise be a pure depth evaluation.
We don't think the Browns are deserving of being favorites by a field goal in this game, especially with both teams likely relying on backups throughout the game. There's no faith in any quarterback on the Browns performing at a high level. The home-field advantage at Huntington Bank Field in a 1:00 PM kickoff gives Cleveland an edge, but a Browns offense that recorded the NFL's lowest catch rate in 2025 and is still sorting through its most important position battle does not deserve the field goal of home-field margin the market has assigned.
Bills vs. Browns Picks
- Money Line Pick: Buffalo Bills
We have more faith in both the Bills' coaching and the depth of their roster to at least keep this game within a field goal, and at +130, the Bills represent underdog value. Kyle Allen looked solid for the Bills in their first preseason game, completing 14-of-16 passes for 108 yards. There is more faith in the Bills' depth quarterback situation than either Watson or Sanders. A Bills backup quarterback corps with proven NFL experience against a Browns team that has not yet settled its starting job, in a game where coaching edge matters more than individual talent, Joe Brady's 29-14 Week 1 performance shows his system is already functioning smoothly. Take Buffalo at plus money.
- Over/Under Pick: Under 36.5
Both Week 1 games went Over, Bills 29, Panthers 14 for 43 combined, and Browns 10, Bears 34 for 44 combined. But those were preseason openers where both teams played their starters for a longer stretch than normal. This is Week 2 with a joint practice buffer, and the dynamics change completely. The market has already adjusted the total down three points to reflect that reality. Two vanilla offenses running backups after joint practice reps is a formula for punts, three-and-outs, and stalled drives. Both coaches agreed to use their starters in joint practice, leaving the preseason game Saturday to largely feature young players and backups, the Week 2 dynamic that consistently produces lower-scoring games than Week 1 openers. Take the Under 36.5
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