The 2015 season was bittersweet for New York fans. Seeing Todd Bowls lead the Jets to a 10-6 record in his debut was certainly a treat, but seeing New York become the only team in the league with a winning record to not make the playoffs is truly heartbreaking. Some critics considered the Jets to be a sleeper when betting on NFL futures in the AFC East, but now two weeks into the season New York is still trying to find their identity on both sides of the ball. The game will take place on Sunday, September 25th
Odds powered by SBGGlobal.eu
Jets +3 (-110) 44 (-105)
Chiefs -3 (-110) 44 (-115)
Offensively the passing game has been extremely inconsistent for the Jets so far. Against the Bengals Ryan Fitzpatrick was barely able to amass a 77.0 passer rating after completing 19/35 passes for 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. However against the Bills Ryan would take off and finished the day with a 116.5 passer rating. That was after completing 24/34 passes for 374 yards, 1 touchdown, and 0 interception. While the difference between the Bills defense and the Bengals is considerable, it would have been nice to see the veteran Fitzpatrick put up better numbers against Cincinnati.
While the passing game hasn’t been the most consistent, the same cannot be said about the running game. Matt Forte may be in the later years of his career, but he isn’t done playing exceptional football. Coming into this contest the Jets are averaging 137.5 yards per game on the ground, and a large part of that can be attributed to the offseason acquisition of Forte. Knowing who will have success running the ball is crucial when betting on NFL games, and often times the team who enjoys more success on the ground will win the game. New York should have no problem running the ball against their next opponent, the Kansas City Chiefs whose run defense ranks 30th in the league.
Just like the Jets, Kansas City is also coming into Sunday’s matchup sporting a 1-1 record. The Chiefs looked strong in their first outing against San Diego, overcoming the Chargers 33-27 in overtime. Kansas City showed resilience in their debut and they were even able to overcome an Alex Smith interception to win the game. However, the Chiefs would not be able to carry that success into the following week. This past Sunday Kansas City would fall short against the Houston Texans 19-12. Brock Osweiler, the expensive quarterback the Texans brought in during the offseason, threw 2 interceptions but the Chiefs would forgive his mistakes by fumbling the ball 3 times. Kansas City had plenty of opportunities to win the game and by the end of the contest it seemed like all the ‘resilience’ the Chiefs showed against the Chargers had gone out the window. Let’s check the odds across the top sportsbooks to see how resilient the Chiefs will have to be in their contest against the Jets.
The Chiefs might be favored in this matchup, mostly because of New York’s defensive woes. In recent years it was the Jets’ defense that would carry their lackluster offense through most games. But in the first two weeks of this season, the offense has broken from the trend and currently looks much better on paper than the defense. Right now the Jets have the 4th best offense in the league, averaging a total of 416.5 yards per game. The defense on the other hand, has been giving up 387 total yards per contest, which ranks them 19th in the NFL. However, it is the passing defense that is the Achilles heel of this defense, because the Jets are ranked 5th overall against the run. Alex Smith will be trying to take advantage of this weakness but Jets’ fans shouldn’t worry too much. Smith has proven to be far too inconsistent in his career and it’s likely he’ll make multiple mistakes in Sunday’s game. If you think about it, the Chiefs are hardly ever favorites when betting on NFL games, and they shouldn’t be the favorites in this pairing either.