By DaVince “Dino” Wright
Game Info
Jacksonville Jaguars vs New York Jets
Thursday – December 22 – 7:15 p.m.
TV: PRIME VIDEO
MetLife Stadium – East Rutherford, NJ
Records Before the Game
Jacksonville Jaguars (6-8, 2-5 Away)
New York Jets (7-7, 3-4 Home)
A tale of two teams… Once upon a time, the New York Jets were beating teams that they haven’t beaten in years. Teams like Tampa Bay, Washington and Chicago. The Jets sat at 7-3 and everyone knew that they would make the playoffs easily. The Jacksonville Jaguars started off slow and fired their head coach five games into the season. Now both teams are poised to wiggle their way into the playoffs, but one will be left on the outside looking in. Which team will it be?
Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jaguars have struggled all year to finish close games until last week. Keep in mind that they have a top pick with quarterback Trevor Lawrence from Clemson. Well, last week Trevor led his team to a win against the Dallas Cowboys at home in overtime. The Jaguars were down 17 points until the team turned things around in their favor. The key for the Jaguars will be on the defensive side of the ball. Last week they pulled off an upset win over the favoedr Cowboys by taking an interception 48 yards to score in overtime. This week they’ll be down two starters due to injuries LDE Folorunso Fatukasi and SLB Travon Walker. That’ll impact the team negatively. The offense is scoring 23.9 points per game while the defense is giving up 23.4 on that side of the ball. Like I said, down a couple of starters and the defense will give up a few more points.
New York Jets
The Jets will be start Zach Wilson this weekend because of the injury Mike White sustained a game ago. Wilson will need to take his time in the pocket and not rush things breaking the pocket and playing like a gunslinger. The Jets offense will first establish the running order to open up the passing game. The Jets defensive backs will have their hands full this week because of the way the Jaguars manipulate the passing game with formations and pre-snap shifts.
Prediction
ESPN has the Jets with a 58.5% chance of winning at home Thursday. When was the last time that anyone has seen a Jets game on a national televised channel? Well! That’s too long! I’m taking the Jets by 3! This will be a good game with playoff implications on the line. All I can say is J-E-T-S!
Final Score
Jets – 27
Jaguars 24
