The Bills will play the Titans in Week 2: Here's when and what to know

Topping the performance they put forth Thursday night in the season-opening 31-10 throttling of the Rams will be a mighty task for the Buffalo Bills when they host Tennessee next Monday night.

Or will it?

Can we really say that this team can’t top any of its performances when it seems to keep doing so almost every time it takes the field?

As Rick Jeanneret once famously said about the other professional team in Buffalo, “These guys are good. Scary good.”

Outside of the Chiefs, who have certainly had the better of the Bills, if there’s one other team that can make that claim, it’s the Titans who have beaten Buffalo in back-to-back seasons, both in Nashville.

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The Titans are never an easy out, and all you have to do is reference their 42-16 victory in 2020 and their 34-31 triumph last year. For whatever reason, they’re a thorn in the side of the Bills.

Here’s an early look at the matchup:

Top players for Tennessee Titans on offense, defense

RB Derrick Henry: He’s one of the best running backs in the NFL, and the Titans offense is a bit of an outlier in today’s NFL with how much their attack is geared around him. There are only a handful of backs in the league who come close to being as integral a part of their offense as Henry is in Tennessee.

The freight train who plays the way Jim Brown used to − run over guys and ask questions later ‒ won back-to-back rushing titles in 2019 and 2020 and was on the way to another in 2021 when he got hurt. He has inflicted some real damage on the Bills, too. Last year, he ripped off a 76-yard touchdown run that turned the game in Tennessee’s favor and finished with 143 yards and three touchdowns. In the 2020 game, he scored two touchdowns. However, the Bills should be more equipped to deal with him given the upgrades to the middle of their defensive line.

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WR Robert Woods: The ex-Bills draft pick left the Rams to sign a free agent deal with the Titans, but Woods and rookie WR Treylon Burks are not A.J. Brown, the dynamic receiver Tennessee traded in the offseason. Henry has hurt the Bills, Brown has often killed the Bills, so him being traded out of the AFC to the Eagles is a nice development.

DT Jeffery Simmons: He isn’t at Aaron Donald’s level, but he can be a difference maker in the middle of the line and he had a great game against Buffalo last season with a sack and five tackles including the one that stopped Josh Allen at the 2-yard-line in the dying seconds to save the game for Tennessee. The good news for the Bills is their interior line held up quite well against Donald and the Rams, so perhaps offensive line coach Aaron Kromer will have another winning plan of containment.

SS Kevin Byard: The Bills believe they have the two best safeties in the league in Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer, but the Titans will strongly make the case for Byard. The two-time All-Pro is a ball hawk who has 23 interceptions in six seasons and always seems to be involved in stopping a play, be it a pass or a run.

LB Bud Dupree: The former Steeler is an every-down player who is strong against the run and can really get after quarterbacks when he blitzes. He had 39.5 sacks in six years with Pittsburgh, then had only three during an injury-plagued 2021 season with the Titans after signing a free agent deal.

CB Kristian Fulton. He flies a little under the radar in Tennessee’s defense, but he can really cover. Whether it’s Stefon Diggs or Gabe Davis, it won’t be an easy night for whoever lines up on his side.

Buffalo Bills vs Tennesee Titans odds and lines

Provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated Monday at 2:51 p.m. ET.

• Money line (ML): Titans +360 (bet $100 to win $360) | Bills -475(bet $475 to win $100)

• Against the spread (ATS): Titans +9.5 (+103) | Bills -9.5 (-117)

• Over/Under (O/U): 49.5 (O: -108 | U: -112)

2022 betting stats

• ML : Titans 0-1 | Bills 1-0

• ATS : Titans 0-1 | Bills 1-0

• O/U : Titans 0-1 | Bills 0-1

The Titans and Bills have met in October in each of the last 4 seasons, splitting those 4 matchups 2-2. The Titans won the last 2 meetings, most recently beating the Bills 34-31 last season as 6-point underdogs. In their last 9 meetings, the Titans are 6-3 SU and 6-3 ATS.

The total has gone Over in 5 of the last 9 meetings, with the Titans scoring 76 total points in the last 2 matchups. This will be their 1st meeting in Buffalo since 2018 when the Bills beat the Titans 13-12.

What the game means to Buffalo Bills, Tennessee Titans

Obviously, playoff seeding is of major importance in the NFL because homefield advantage is usually so vital to success.

The Bills lost to the Titans last season, and had that result been flipped, both teams would have finished 12-5 and the Bills would have had the tiebreaker. Had the Chiefs lost one other game, the Bills would have been the top seed in the AFC.

Nothing changes this year. The AFC is loaded and every game you can win against an AFC team is going to be meaningful, and it doesn’t matter that will only be Week 2.

Bills vs Titans on Monday Night Football: How you can watch and listen to the game

For the second week in a row the Bills are in a prime-time window, this one being aired on ESPN with a kickoff time scheduled for 7:15 p.m.

If you don’t have ESPN on cable, you can stream the game on the ESPN app, ESPN+, DirecTV Stream, fuboTV, NFL+, Sling, Vidgo, Hulu + Live TV, and YouTube TV.

If you can’t get to a TV or device you can listen to the game on the Bills Radio Network, which has stations all across the state. They include Rochester (WCMF 96.5 FM and WROC 950 AM), Buffalo (WGR550 550 AM), Syracuse (WTKW 99.5 and WTKV 105.5 FM, Ithaca (WIII 99.9/100.3 FM), Bath (WVIN 98.3 FM), Newark (WACK 1420 AM), Dansville (WDNY 93.9 FM), Elmira (WNGZ 1490 AM), Auburn (WAUB 98.1 FM/1590 AM), and Geneva (WGVA 95.9 FM/1240 AM).

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana.To subscribe to Sal's new twice-a-week newsletter, Bills Blast, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: When do the Buffalo Bills play again? Week 2 brings the Titans to town