The lowly New York Jets limp into EverBank Stadium Sunday to face the Jacksonville Jaguars. They come in with their fourth quarterback and very little hope of making a game out of it.
Before the start of the 2025 season, any NFL bettor could find juicy odds on the Jacksonville Jaguars to win the AFC South.
Now, the Jaguars, a week after scoring a relatively stressless victory as home underdogs over the Indianapolis Colts in a massive divisional showdown, find themselves all alone in first place in the AFC South. They are also looking for their fifth straight victory.
They are even getting a ton of respect from sports books all over the country,
The 9-4 Jaguars are 13.5-point (-106) home favorites, as per BetMGM Sportsbook, vs. the New York Jets (3-10) to secure a 10-win season for the first time in 18 seasons.
Jacksonville is (-1000) on the Moneyline, while the Jets (+13.5, -114) are listed at +660.
The over/under for the 1:00 p.m. (ET) kickoff at EverBank in Jacksonville, Florida is at or around 41.5 (-108/-112), depending which sports book you are looking at.
Jacksonville, 9-8 all-time vs. the Jets, including 3-2 in their last five head-to-head matchups, is 4-1 against the spread at home and 5-1 overall in their last six games.
The Jets, coming off a home loss to the Miami Dolphins, defeated the Jaguars in Jacksonville 32-25 last December. Don't look for history to repeat itself. The Jets will lose and lose big.
Brady Cook, an undrafted quarterback out of the University of Missouri, will make his first career NFL start vs. the Jaguars - after replacing an injured Tyrod Taylor in Week 14.
Cook, a practice squad leftover, who threw for 163 yards with two interceptions in his first NFL action, will be the first undrafted QB to make a start for the Jets since 1973.
Cook, a three-year starter at Missouri, ranks third in passing yards in Missouri football history, which includes 2,535 in 12 games as a senior, will be dealing with a Jags defense that has 23 takeaways this season, which is tied for second most in the NFL.
The Jets have scored 14 or fewer points in six of their last eight games, but have exceeded 20 points in three of their last five road games.
And while that was without Cook, but with wide receiver Garrett Wilson, out for Sunday, the Jets will have running back Breece Hall to lean back on, while trying to establish a ground-and-pound rhythm to the game.
On the other hand, Jacksonville has allowed 30 points total in its last three wins against the Jets.
Therefore, Cook might provide something to watch given that the Jaguars, who come into this spot with the best run defense in the league, been hurt in the secondary on occasion by middle-tier signal-callers, most notably by Jacoby Brissett in Arizona last month. It was a game that Jacksonville won in OT.
New York, stung by a host of injuries in recent weeks, including the loss of starting QB Justin Fields (knee), is down to Adrian Martinez, bumped up from the practice squad, behind Cook.
TE Mason Taylor (neck) and LB Kiko Mauinoa have also been ruled out vs. the Jags. For Jacksonville, OT Walker Little (concussion) and WR Parker Washington (hip) are questionable - as of Saturday morning.
The Jags defensive schemes are quite complicated and nothing like what Cook has seen before. But even though Jacksonville has scored 25+ points in six straight games, nearby two touchdowns is too much to cough up with the home dog, here. We still need to see more from the Jaguars on a consistent basis.
They had their way with the Colts (out Daniel Jones for much of the game) and the Titans over the last couple of weeks.
Instead, look into the aforementioned Hall racking up a solid day on the ground.