NFL Week 15 Betting – Sputtering Jets, Titans Meet in Tennessee

New York Jets (-2, 42 o/u) at Tennessee Titans

This end-of-season game between the New York Jets (2-11, 0-6 away) and Tennessee Titans (2-11, 1-5 home) may not have playoff ramifications, but it does affect next year’s NFL draft.

Both the Jets and Titans are tied for the worst record in the NFL and both are in need of a franchise quarterback. With Oregon’s Marcus Mariota likely to enter the 2015 NFL draft, New York and Tennessee fans may just be rooting for a loss on Sunday.

Of course, the players won’t see it that way. Though the season will end for both teams in three weeks’ time, there are numerous players both rosters whose careers could follow suit if they don’t play well down the stretch. That would include Jets quarterback Geno Smith, who has a nine-game losing streak as a starter.

Despite a horrific record and stats, Smith has somehow found some optimism.

“We believe that we’re going to come out of this and be successful,” Smith said. “I can only focus on what I’m going through right here and right now. We’ve got three games left to improve and we’ve got to go out there and put it all on the line and do our jobs.”

This will be a homecoming of sorts for Jets running back Chris Johnson, who spent six years with the Titans. Splitting carries with Chris Ivory all season, Johnson had his first 100-yard rushing game of the season against Miami in week 13.

“Going to the visitor’s locker room, it’s going to be kind of weird,” Johnson said. “It’s definitely harder than what I expected, but its a situation where a lot of times stuff is out of your hands that you can’t control, so I just try to take advantage of every opportunity I get.”

The Jets, who have yet to win a road game this season, are currently two-point favorites. That may seem strange at first, but this is actually a favorable matchup for New York, even though the game is in Nashville. The Jets have a solid running game, averaging nearly 150 yards per game (second in the league) and 4.7 yards per carry (tied for third). Meanwhile, the Titans give up an NFL-worst 141.5 yards per game on the ground.

The futility of Tennessee’s run-defense was on full display in last weekend’s 36-7 loss to the New York Giants. The Giants, who barely average 100 rushing yards per game, put up 142 on the Titans. The loss stretched Tennessee’s losing streak to seven games.

“It’s disappointing,” said Titans tight end Delanie Walker. “We’ve only won two games, and we’re still playing the same way. We always say we’re going to change, and nothing changes.”

Making matters worse for Tennessee, rookie quarterback Zach Mettenberger has been ruled out for the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury. Erstwhile franchise quarterback Jake Locker will be back under center in week 15.

With terrible offenses on both sides of the ball, the only logical play is taking the under (42).

(Photo credit: Ed Schipul (Flickr: Texans Offensive Line) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)