Another year without postseason football could be enough for the Buffalo Bills to part ways with Rex Ryan. While there have been many rumors circulating about Rex’s future in Western New York, the fact is he never delivered on his promise of returning the Bills to the playoffs. Their drought reached 17 years with last week’s overtime loss to Miami. And how ironic would it be for Rex to be let go after playing against the team he coached for six seasons. A win over the hapless New York Jets in Week 17 would at least give the Bills a .500 record.
Watch this regular season Week 17 matchup live on Sunday, January 1, 2017, at 1 p.m. ET at MetLife Stadium.
NFL Odds at BookMaker.e
Buffalo Bills -6
New York Jets +6
Over/Under 44.5
Odds Analysis
The Bills opened as a 5-point favorite and the line quickly moved a point to -6 with over 80 percent of the early spread wagers on the visitors. The Jets probably played their best game of the season in a 37-31 Week 2 victory at Buffalo as a 1-point dog, but it’s been downhill ever since. The totals in this series are usually low with the opening number of 44.5 the highest in a game between these clubs since 2011. They easily cashed the over in the first meeting when the total closed at 40.5 and the number has been adjusted.
Injury Report
Stephon Gilmore – The Bills could be without their top cornerback as Gilmore entered the concussion protocol. He’s the team leader in interceptions with five and his absence could be a relief for Ryan Fitzpatrick, who has tossed 17 picks on the year.
Bryce Petty – The end-of-the-season audition for Petty is over. He was scheduled to start the final four games of the year to gauge his readiness as an everyday starter and the No. 1 option heading into next season. However, that changed when the club put him on injured reserve with shoulder injury. Fitzpatrick will likely get the nod in what should be his last game in a Jets uniform.
Key Stat
While the future of Ryan in Buffalo remains in limbo, the Todd Bowles watch is on in New York. The Jets suffered their third embarrassing loss in the last four games with Saturday’s 41-3 shellacking by the Patriots, but all things considered, the Jets didn’t have much of a chance anyway. Eight of the 11 starters on offense were backups when the season began and Bowles can’t prevent his team from turning the football over as often as they have.
The Jets committed four turnovers against the Patriots and had as many completed passes as giveaways through three quarters, that’s not good. This came a week after New York coughed the ball up four times in a 34-13 loss to Miami. They also committed three turnovers in a 41-10 loss to Indianapolis. And it’s been a season-long theme for the Jets, who lead the NFL with 34 giveaways and have a league-worst minus-23 turnover differential. Fitzpatrick and Petty have combined to throw 24 interceptions and it’s just hard to win games with horrible quarterback play.
Free ATS Pick
If anything this should be an interesting matchup as both teams will make a decision on their head coach at some point. It’s hard to imagine Bowles became a bad coach in one year. He directed the Jets to a 10-win season and narrowly missed the postseason after a loss to the Bills in last season’s final game. But what transpired this year is no fault of his. Shoddy play from the quarterback position, injuries and some plain old bad luck has the Jets at four wins.
As it stands now the Jets are just a mess. They have certain players fracturing the locker room by going public with their dislike for each other, and others calling out teammates for lack of effort. We could credit that type of behavior to the end of an abysmal season where frustrations have boiled over. But this has been going on for much longer with the Jets. New York will rely on Bilal Powell against a leaky Bills run defense and to keep Fitzpatrick from obvious passing downs. However, with an offense line that was horrible against the Pats, that won’t be enough. If Rex is on his way out of Buffalo, what a better way than to knock off his former team in what could be his last game.
NFL Odds: Bills 26, Jets 17
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