New England Patriots A 3.5-Point Favorite Over New York Jets On Monday Night
December 6th, 2010- By Alex Groberman
In a battle that may ultimately end up deciding the winner of the AFC East, the New York Jets will square off against the New England Patriots Monday night.
The Mark Sanchez led Jets are coming into this one riding high after one of their most dominating victories over the year against the hapless Cincinnati Bengals. New York was able to accumulate 170 yards on the ground, including a 53 yard score by Brad Smith to open the second half, behind strong play from their offensive line. As it stands, the Jets are ranked second in the NFL in yards on the ground with 148 per game. A lot of the Jets’ running prowess is in part thanks to Ladainian Tomlinson who has racked up 741 yards and five touchdowns on the season.
Quarterback, Sanchez, has been doing exactly what has been asked of him thus far in the year passing for 16 touchdowns and only eight interceptions. Wide receiver, Santonio Holmes has really been an asset for Sanchez’s passing attack bringing in four touchdowns and 491 yards in only seven games this season.
Defensively, New York has been a powerhouse all year long ranking third in total defense in the NFL and fourth in total points allowed. Corner, Darrelle Revis has rebounded nicely from his numerous injuries throughout the year and has proven to be able to successfully shut down some of the premiere wide receivers in the league. Because of the Patriots’ newfound short-pass philosophy after the Randy Moss trade, Rex Ryan and his defensive unit will need to find a way to limit the effectiveness of Tom Brady’s small passes that have proven detrimental to New England’s other opponents in 2010.
Meanwhile, while the Patriots may not get the headlines and critical acclaim that Ryan and the Jets tend to get, they
have quietly put together a superb season that simply reinforces why they are the class franchise in the league. Tom Brady, despite not having any truly superstar wide receivers anymore on the roster, leads the NFL with 23 touchdowns and is currently sitting second in passer rating. As is usually the case when they are winning, New England’s success comes as a direct result of their efficiency as represented by the fact that their turnover ratio coming into this game is plus 13.
While the running game was a concern for many coming into this season, BenJarvis Green-Ellis has evolved into the Patriots’ main running back and has racked up 627 yards and nine touchdowns on the season. In his last two weeks, Green-Ellis has brought in three scores.
Defensively, the Patriots have a very noticeable weakness in their pass defense which is currently last in the NFL with 288 yards per game – the total is simply unacceptable for a team of New England’s caliber. The only thing that mildly softens this poor showing is the fact that most of their opponents have had to play from behind for most of the year and thus would in all likelihood put up better numbers because they simply have to.
Earlier in the season, Sanchez had no problems having his way with the Patriots en route to a 28-14 victory for his Jets. However, playing on the road may prove a different story for New York. For this particular match up the Patriots are a 3.5-point favorite on NFL Betting odds on most online sportsbooks, with the over/under installed at 44.5 points. The Jets have been 9-2 against the spread in their last 11 road games and the under has come up 13-3 in their last 16 games in December. Meanwhile, the over has come up 7-1 for the Patriots in their last 8 games on field turf and 9-2 in their last 11 games against AFC opponents.
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