Take the over in Bills-Jets ‘Thursday Night Football’ game
The Bills and Jets are led by a pair of defensive-minded coaches in Buffalo’s Rex Ryan and New York’s Todd Bowles, but lately the AFC East rivals have been involved in some shootouts.
The Jets have gone over the total in their last four games and the Bills have gone over in their last three, prompting The Gold Sheet handicapper Bruce Marshall to recommend a play on the over in today’s “Thursday Night Football” matchup between the teams at New York’s MetLife Stadium.
The Jets are favored between 1 and 2 points at Las Vegas sports books, with the total ranging from 41½ to 42 points.
“I’m a little surprised the total is down this low. These teams are going over consistently in recent weeks,” said Marshall (goldsheet.com). “There’s the whole Rex factor with him coming back (to New York), but his defense has yet to adapt to his schemes or alignments. Buffalo’s defense hasn’t looked great and that’s contributed to some of the high scores.”
The Bills, whose last three games have averaged a total of 57 points, are scoring 26.1 points per game and allowing 23.8 ppg. Four of the last six meetings between the teams have gone over, with Buffalo winning the last three by a combined score of 118-40 for an average total of 53.
“The Bills have been beating up the Jets in this series, with Rex on the wrong side,” Marshall said. “Generally they’ve been higher-scoring games and their games recently have been higher-scoring. I’m a little puzzled by this total and why it’s so low.”
New York has scored at least 20 points in its last five games and seven of eight and average 27.5 ppg at home.
“The Jets have been scoring consistently,” Marshall said. “(Quarterback Ryan) Fitzpatrick has continued to play well and is also playing against his old team tonight. He’s been pretty good.
“The alarming thing about the Jets is their defense is starting to leak, especially against the pass. The Raiders and Jaguars torched them the last couple of weeks.”
New York held off Jacksonville 28-23 on Sunday after losing 34-20 to Oakland the week before.
The Jets opened as 3-point favorites at the Stratosphere before being bet down to 1½ and the total opened at 43 before being bet down to 41½.
“I like the game under, too, myself,” Stratosphere sports book director Ed Malinowski said. “With (Ryan) coming back to New York, (the Jets’) defense is going to step it up a bit. And the Jets aren’t that much of a powerhouse anyway.
“When I saw 43 was the opening number, I thought that was a shade high. Everybody thinks the Bills are defensive-minded.”
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