NFL Pick: Jets ML (+115) at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
The annual Hall of Fame game will kick off this week as the Jets and Browns meet in Canton, Ohio for the first preseason contest of the season. Let’s examine this matchup and review the NFL odds as we look to cash in the first splash of the 2023 season.
Key Facts
- The Jets have gone 5-0-1 SU and 5-1 ATS over the last two preseasons.
- The Jets are 7-2 ATS in their last 9 meetings versus the Browns
- The Jets’ defense ranked 3rd against the pass (189.4 YPG), 4th in total yards allowed (311.1 YPG), and 4th in points allowed per game (18.6) last season.
New York Jets vs. Cleveland Browns
Thursday, August 03, 2023 – 08:00 PM EDT at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium
We will get our first taste of NFL football this week and it couldn’t come soon enough. The Browns are officially listed as the home team but this preseason debut will be held in Canton, Ohio, about an hour south of Cleveland, at the Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.
Both teams ended with a 7-10 record last season and had precisely the same point differential (-20) with the Jets boasting a superior defense, ranked fourth in points allowed surrendering 18.6 points per game, while the Browns 18th ranked offense averaging 21.2 points per game was superior to New York’s 29th ranked offense averaging just 17.4 points per contest.
Who Will We See?
Betting on preseason games can be a roll of the dice because you don’t know which starters will see the field and for how long. Therefore, with so little history on many of the backups, it can be extremely difficult to gauge just how one squad will stack up against the other.
When the NFL had four preseason contests, the first was almost exclusively reserved for the backups but now that the exhibition slate has been narrowed to just three games, the starters may get a few more reps than they did before.
But here we have the only two teams in the league that will play a four-game preseason slate due to the Hall of Fame game being played so early in August. Therefore, we won’t count on a marquee matchup between New York’s Aaron Rodgers and Cleveland’s DeShaun Watson as both will likely sit this out or play minimally.
If we recall last year’s Hall of Fame contest between the Jaguars and the Raiders, the only starter of note who logged any real playing time was Las Vegas running back, Josh Jacobs, who carried the ball just five times for 30 yards then called it a night.
Jets Get the Edge
Jet’s head coach Robert Saleh is 5-0-1 straight up and 5-1 against the spread over the last two preseasons and is 2-0 SU and ATS in his last two preseason openers. Some head coaches believe getting off on the right foot is important despite the game not counting for anything in the standings.
Robert Saleh is one of those guys and we should keep that in mind as the Jets will try to reenergize their devoted fanbase after landing Aaron Rodgers.
Lastly, who has more to prove than the No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft than Jet’s backup quarterback Zach Wilson? We should see Wilson getting his share of reps in this game and he has the experience and motivation to look sharp. As dubious as his tenure with the Jets has been, he is a much better player than any of the Browns’ backups.
The Pick
Let’s go with the Jets to win the game outright for our NFL picks and start our football season off with the bookies’ money in our pockets!
NFL Pick: Jets ML (+115) at BetOnline
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
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