NFL Week 16 Opening Lines and Spreads

• The opening lines for Week 16 of the NFL season have been posted
• The Cleveland Browns are 10.5-point road favorites over the New York Jets
• The over/under is 55.5 points on the Sunday Night Football Game between the Tennessee Titans and Packers in Green Bay

It’s Christmastime and that means the NFL regular season is winding down.

After the Pittsburgh Steelers and Bengals play Monday night in Cincinnati, just two weeks will remain in the 17-week regular season.

The Week 16 opening lines are out. Let’s take a look at the NFL odds.

NFL Week 16 Opening Lines

Odds taken  Dec. 20 from FanDuel and William Hill

No R-E-S-P-E-C-T for J-E-T-S

The New York Jets finally got their first win of the season Sunday, pulling off a big 23-20 upset of the Rams in Los Angeles as 17.5-point underdogs.

W. pic.twitter.com/3pONByA0lt

— New York Jets (@nyjets) December 21, 2020

Yet that still did not get the Jets much from respect from the oddsmakers. New York is a 10.5-point underdog in Week 16 to the Cleveland Browns, the largest spread on the board.

Sam Darnold passed for 207 yards, completing 22-of-31 attempts with one touchdown, to lead the Jets (1-13). New York escaped the indignity of becoming just the third team in NFL history to finish a season 0-16.

The Jets nearly blew a 17-point lead before stopping the Rams on downs with 3:54 remaining then ran out the clock.

Textbook from @alldayMAYE.

📺 #NYJvsLAR on FOX pic.twitter.com/4qt7uglJFs

— New York Jets (@nyjets) December 20, 2020

The Browns took a 9-4 record into Sunday night’s game against the Giants, the first of consecutive trips Cleveland will make to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

Magic Number is 1.5

It looks like it is going to be a very competitive Week 16 schedule, as four of the 16 games have narrow lines of 1.5 points – the Miami Dolphins over the host Las Vegas Raiders, the Washington Football team over the Carolina Panthers, the Seattle Seahawks over the Rams and the Philadelphia Eagles on the road over the Dallas Cowboys.

The most important of those four matchups is the game between the NFC West-leading Seahawks (10-4) and second-place Rams (9-5) at Lumen Field.

With Russell Wilson having an off day, the Seahawks relied on two key interceptions of Dwayne Haskins to notch a 20-15 road win over the Washington Football Team on Sunday as six-point favorites. Seattle clinched a playoff berth for the eighth time in the last nine years.

The 2️⃣nd interception of the day belongs to @D7_Reed!

📺: #SEAvsWAS on FOX pic.twitter.com/94WlNi8mwa

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) December 20, 2020

Wilson passed for just 121 yards and a touchdown, adding 52 yards rushing on six carries.

The Rams’ Jared Goff threw for 209 yards and two TDs but could not dig the Rams out of a 20-3 hole.

Despite Sunday’s ugly loss, the Rams would take control of the division race by beating the Seahawks, as LA would hold the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Sunday Night Shootout

The Sunday Night Football game features the Green Bay Packers hosting the Tennessee Titans and it figures to be an entertaining game. The over/under of 55.5 points is the highest of the week.

The Packers (11-3) beat the visiting Carolina Panthers 24-16 on Saturday and the Titans (10-4) notched a 46-25 home victory over the Detroit Lions on Sunday. Ryan Tannehill accounted for five Tennessee touchdowns, three passing and two rushing.

Best plays from @ryantannehill1's 5 TD game #DETvsTEN

📺: More coverage on @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/yqExvIgrJm

— Tennessee Titans (@Titans) December 20, 2020

Green Bay entered Sunday’s play as the NFL’s highest-scoring team with a 31.0 point a game average. Tennessee was fourth at 30.0.

The Browns and Jets have the lowest total at 43.5 points.

Doesn’t Feel Right

The reality of the AFC East in 2020 is the Buffalo Bills (11-3) are the division champions and the New England Patriots (6-8) will not be going to the playoffs for the first time since 2009.

Nevertheless, the Bills being six-point favorites in Foxborough just does not feel right. That line will likely come down a little if for no other reason than the Bill Belichick factor.

The woeful Houston Texans (5-9) being 8.5-point favorite over anyone, even at home against the even more woeful Cincinnati Bengals (2-10-1), also feels odd. Look for that spread to also go down.