The last week of the regular season is here, with the New York Jets traveling to take on the Buffalo Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium. The NFL’s fifth-leading receiver, Brandon Marshall (1,376 yards, 13 TDs), will play an integral role in the outcome of this game. Losing two of its last three, this rough season hasn’t gotten any better for Buffalo. Kickoff is at 1:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, Jan 3 and will air on CBS.
Buffalo and New York last met in Week 10, when the Bills put in a solid performance and beat the Jets 22-17. Buffalo has been victorious in the last four over the Jets, going back to the 2013 season. LeSean McCoy had a huge game in the last meeting, putting up 159 total yards. He had 112 yards on the ground and 47 yards receiving. Chris Ivory had a great performance, putting up 135 total yards. He had 99 yards on the ground and 36 yards receiving.
New York is a slim one-point favorite when they take on the Bills. According to the oddsmakers, the Over/Under (O/U) is currently at 43 points.
Sitting at 7-8 Straight Up (SU) and 7-7-1 Against The Spread (ATS), the Bills will look to improve heading into Week 17. In their five most recent matchups, the Bills went 2-3 for both SU and ATS. Buffalo’s offense is averaging 415.4 total yards over the last five games. As for the Buffalo defense, a few key matchups could decide this game. There are few in the league better than the Bills in terms of pass defense. Buffalo allows a 58.7% completion percentage to its opponents. Special teams is a weakness for New York that the Bills may use to their advantage. On average, the Jets have allowed 111.3 return yards per game, the most in the league.
Across the field, the Jets head into Week 17 with records of 8-5-2 ATS and 10-5 SU. Over their last five games, the Jets have a SU record of 5-0 and a 4-0-1 record ATS. There’s a good chance that New York will rely on its passing attack against a defense that allows 271 passing yards per home game, ranking 29th in the league. Over the last five games, the Jets have improved their run defense, allowing an average of 61.2 rushing yards per game. It shouldn’t be too hard for the Jets to start fast this week with Buffalo’s defense allowing 5.6 points in the first quarter of home games. Keeping penalties at bay could be crucial for Buffalo as they are given an average of 9.3 penalties per game, the highest in the NFL.
Predictions: SU Winner – NYJ, ATS Winner – NYJ, O/U – Over
Notes
Buffalo is 2-3-1 ATS in its last 6 games.
Buffalo is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 11 of Buffalo’s last 16 games at home.
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Buffalo’s last 6 games at home.
Buffalo is 7-3 SU in its last 10 games at home.
Buffalo is 5-1 SU in their last 6 games when playing NY Jets.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Buffalo’s last 6 games when playing at home against NY Jets.
New York is 7-0 SU this season, when leading at the half. Buffalo is 5-1 SU when taking a lead into halftime.
Remarkably, New York is only 1-5 SU in games where it wins the turnover battle, yet undefeated (7-0 SU) when losing the turnover battle.
Buffalo is only 1-2 SU this season when allowing at least 3.0 sacks in a game. The New York defense is averaging 3.0 sacks over its last five games.
According to overall NFL pass rankings, New York is rated higher on both sides of the ball. Its 11th-ranked offensive passing game will face the 23rd-ranked pass defense of Buffalo, while its 16th-ranked pass defense will look to limit the 27th-ranked aerial attack of the Bills.
