Knox rocks Bills 'TNF' parlay

The 13th week of the NFL season gets started with a critical AFC East battle between the 8-3 Bills and 6-5 Patriots. Buffalo is fighting to regain control of the division, while New England is fighting to stay in the mix of the AFC Wild Card.

We're going back to the touchdown well after our success on Monday, and trusting the better team to emerge with a win.

Back Dawson Knox to score and aid a Buffalo win

The eight touchdowns allowed to tight ends from New England is the second-highest mark in the NFL. The curious thing about the Patriots defense is they've allowed as many touchdowns to TEs (eight) as they have to wide receivers and running backs combined. As their clear vulnerability, it makes sense we turn our attention to the position for the Bills.

Enter Dawson Knox. 

Knox is the clear top tight end for Buffalo, playing upwards of 80% of the offensive snaps and seeing 42 targets on the year. With the trio of receivers the Bills deploy in Stefon Diggs, Gabriel Davis, and Isaiah McKenzie, plus the presence of Josh Allen's legs commanding linebackers' attentions, Knox is set to see plenty of one-on-one matchups in space.

Knox and the Bills saw the Patriots three times last season thanks to a matchup in the wild-card round. Knox caught one touchdown in New England at the tail end of the regular season and then hauled in two scores in their playoff meeting.

We obviously like him to do it again, and the best odds we see for that are +310 on DraftKings. But, why stop there?

To us, there isn't much of a contest between the quality of these two teams; the Bills are better. If you feel motivation is an important factor in your bets, it's clear Buffalo needs to sharpen up the edges after a few rough weeks, and this divisional matchup would sure be the right time to get started there. Buffalo has won four of the last five games against New England, and they've particularly enjoyed visiting Foxborough.

In the past two visits to New England, the Bills have won 38-9 and 33-21. We expect another comfortable win, so we're adding the Bills moneyline to our Knox TD bet.

That SGP on DraftKings is +475, the best spot we've found in this combo. Enjoy the game, and go Bills!

In the news ...

Aaron Donald to miss first-ever game due to injury and might get shut down for season — Rams star DT Aaron Donald has missed two NFL games in his career: one due to a holdout and the other in Week 17 after Los Angeles had secured a playoff spot in 2017. This Sunday will mark the first-ever game Donald has missed due to injury, an impressive accomplishment in Year Nine. It sounds like the Rams may shut down Donald in what has become a lost season for the defending champs. The 3-8 Rams may also put Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp away for the season as they look to pick up the pieces. The 7-4 49ers are -650 to win the NFC West, followed by the 6-5 Seahawks at +450.

Deion Sanders may make the jump up to the FBS coaching ranks — It sounds like we may learn what Hall of Famer Deion Sanders plans to do after his team's SWAC Championship on Sunday. Sanders is currently the coach at HBCU Jackson State, and the impact he's made on that community of schools is unmeasured. The three finalists, should Sanders decide to move up the ranks, appear to be Cincinnati, Colorado, and UCF. Cincinnati is likely the team best prepared to win now, while Colorado and UCF both won just one game this year and would be in need of a ground-up rebuild.

Penguins longtime defensemen Kris Letang suffers stroke, out indefinitely — Scary news emerged out of Pittsburgh on Wednesday as Kris Letang of the Penguins suffered a stroke earlier in the week. While it appears the star defenseman isn't suffering any lasting effects, it's still the second such time Letang has dealt with a health scare like this. The 35-year-old is in his 17th NHL season and there is no timetable for his return.

Today's Bark Bets is written by Griffin Carroll