Jets Dolphins Line

Written by Steve Janus

The New York Jets will look to keep their slim playoff hopes alive when they go on the road to face the Miami Dolphins. New York not only has to beat the Dolphins this Sunday, they need both the Titans and Bengals to lose and either the Broncos or Raiders to lose. New York handed the Dolphins a 24-6 loss back in week 6 on Monday Night Football, but Miami has been playing much better of late. The Dolphins are 5-3 since starting the season 0-6 and two of those three losses came by 3-points or less.

Taking a look at the week 17 NFL lines, oddsmakers currently have the Dolphins favored by 2.5-points over the Jets with the total set at 41 points.

New York Jets:

The Jets looked like they were primed to make the playoffs as a Wild Card after winning three straight to improve to 8-5, but have since been blown out in back-to-back games against the Eagles and Giants.

All hope is not lost for the Jets, as there is a decent chance they could have everything work in their favor. The Titans have to go on the road to face the Texans, the Bengals are playing a Ravens club trying to secure the NFC North and a first round bye, and the Broncos and Raiders are both playing division rivals.

If New York is going to win this game, they are going to need their offense to snap out of a funk. The Jets have been held under 20 points in each of their last two games.

Most of the blame for the Jets struggles has fallen on quarterback Mark Sanchez, who has been less than impressive down the stretch. Sanchez threw for 258 yards and two touchdowns in the loss to the Giants last week, but also threw his third and fourth interceptions in the last two weeks.

I’m not a huge Sanchez fan, but he isn’t the reason the Jets are in trouble of missing the playoffs. I believe the blame needs to be put on the lack of a running game and a defense that has not lived up to their potential. Sanchez attempts 59 passes against the Giants. He simply is not good enough at this point in his career to be dropping back to pass nearly 60 times.

Defensively the Jets have allowed 74 points the last two weeks. Not exactly the kind of performance you would expect for a team that prides itself on that side of the ball. Shonn Greene isn’t the back the Jets had hoped for, but I don’t know that they have trusted him enough. In the Jets 8 wins Greene is averaging 117 ypg, in their seven losses that number drops to 94 ypg.

Miami Dolphins:

The Dolphins have really showed a lot of heart for the way they have finished out the season after such a horrible start. They are playing extremely hard for interim head coach Todd Bowles, and you know the players would love nothing more than to be partly responsible for the Jets not making the playoffs.

The Dolphins nearly pulled off a huge upset at New England last week, as they had the Patriots down 17-0 at half. They would end up losing the game 24-27, but that just goes to show you how well this team is playing.

One of the big surprises offensively has been the play of running back Reggie Bush, who went over the 1,000 yard mark with his 113 yards against the Patriots. Bush is averaging just under 130 yards a game over the last four weeks.

Matt Moore has had his ups and downs this season. He threw for 281 yards and three touchdowns against the Patriots, but was just 16 of 32 passing. The big concern for Moore this week, is the loss of starting left tackle Jake Long, who was put on I-R.

Moore has formed a nice connection with Pro Bowl wide out Brandon Marshall, who had six catches for 143 yards and a touchdown last week. Marshall has 77 catches for 1,177 yards and six touchdowns this season.

Betting Trends:

New York is 9-2 ATS in their last 11 games as a road underdog of 0.5-3.0.

Miami is 8-1 ATS in their last 9 games overall.

Be sure to stop back and check out who Steve Janus has picked to win this week in the NFL.

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