The expression “any given Sunday” exists for a reason, but it sure feels like the Jets are walking into a no-win scenario this Sunday. Not only is there public uncertainty around who will play quarterback,
but they are without their best cornerback and wide receiver after Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson were ruled out for Sunday’s game.
Just because all hope looks lost doesn’t mean that it necessarily is though. What do the sportsbooks think after running their calculations? To find out, I checked the Fanduel lines as of Saturday at about 9AM EST. (As a reminder, I am not discussing this in order to encourage a bet, but rather because I figure the amount of data and resources at Fanduel’s disposal makes them more qualified to estimate the outcome of games than any of us.)
To start, Fanduel has set the money line for the Jets winning at +240, which is one of the larger lines that we’ve seen this season. Based on the implied odds, this would suggest Fanduel has the Jets pegged as having a 29% chance of victory against the Cincinnati Bengals as led by quarterback Joe Flacco. This sets the Jets up as a considerable underdog but as still having a chance.
Beyond that, they have the point spread at +6.5, meaning they expect the Jets to lose by about a touchdown. In terms of the over/under, the line is 44.5. Pairing those figures together, this suggests a 26-19 Bengals win or thereabout. While another loss would stink for non-tanking Jets fans, avoiding a stinker would likely be appreciated by many other Jets fans after the past few weeks.
