Morning Coffee: Will Jets finally break through versus Texans on Thursday Night Football?

The New York Jets have been a haunted house of horrors for any football fans that have bet on them at FanDuel in recent weeks.

Perhaps it’s the Halloween spirit that’s in the air, but I’m hooked by the suspense of what they will do next with another shot to surprise us on Thursday Night Football.

The Jets have lost five in a row to fall to 2-6 entering tonight’s showdown with the Houston Texans.

Despite being 0-4 against opponents with a winning record this season, New York is currently a small favourite for tonight’s game at -1.5 versus Houston at FanDuel.

If the current number holds, the Jets will become just the fifth team in the Super Bowl era with a .250 or worse win percentage to be a betting favourite against an opponent with a .750 or better win percentage in Week 9 or later.

The previous four such favourites went a combined 4-0.

Will Aaron Rodgers and company treat us to their best performance of the season to snap their slide and keep their slim hopes for a playoff push alive with a win?

Or will the fact that the Jets are a small favourite at FanDuel turn out to be another trick on Halloween night?

Whatever the result, the suspense of what the Jets will do next has me locked in on Thursday Night Football.

This is the Morning Coffee for Thursday October 31st, 2024.

Will Jets Finally break through versus Texans on Thursday Night Football?

With so much hype around the return of Rodgers and several key additions, the Jets were supposed to be a playoff contender in the AFC this season.

Instead, they’re on pace to be the league’s biggest disappointment.

It wasn’t that long ago that New York was considered more likely than not to make the playoffs at FanDuel following a 2-1 start.

Since then, they’ve lost five in a row to fall to 2-6, failing to cover the spread in any of those losses.

In fact, if the Jets go on to lose tonight, they’ll become the first team in the Super Bowl era to lose six straight games without being an underdog of three or more points in any of them.

Meanwhile, the Texans are 5-1 against the spread as road underdogs under head coach DeMeco Ryans.

Houston is a commanding -850 favourite to win the AFC South following a 6-2 start.

At the same time, they won’t have either Nico Collins or Stefon Diggs available on the road and on a short week tonight in New York.

Collins is on track to return soon after missing time with a hamstring injury.

Diggs will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL.

The Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, and Baltimore Ravens all upgraded their wide receiver rooms via trades in recent weeks.

Considering they’ll be without Diggs for the rest of the year, I wouldn’t be surprised If the Texans follow suit and add a wide receiver via trade before the deadline.

In the meantime, it will be on Xavier Hutchinson, John Metchie and Robert Woods to all step up for C.J. Stroud along with Tank Dell in the passing game.

In case you missed it, Joe Mixon has rushed for rushed for 100+ yards and a touchdown in every single game that he has started and finished.

I expect another heavy dose of Mixon tonight against a defence that ranks in the bottom half of the league with an average of 101.4 rushing yards on 24.5 rush attempts per game to opposing running backs this season.

In terms of a FanDuel Best Bet, I’m going to lock in on the Jets’ leading wide receiver to deliver a big performance.

In last season’s meeting with the Texans, Garrett Wilson had a team-high nine receptions for 108 yards.

That was with Zach Wilson at quarterback.

We know that Jeff Ulbrich and his staff want to run the football, but the problem is that they haven’t been very effective on the ground this season, and Houston’s defence ranks eighth in rushing yards allowed per game to running backs this season.

Wilson leads the NFL with 84 targets this season.

No other player has more than 73 through eight weeks.

Since returning from London, Wilson has recorded at least five receptions and at least 61 receiving yards in four straight games.

In fact, he’s posted 100+ receiving yards in three of his last four games, including a season-high 113 receiving yards on five catches in last week’s loss to the New England Patriots.

Wilson has posted catches of 20+ yards in three straight games, and with Allen Lazard sidelined there could be even more responsibility on his shoulders in this game.

Wilson is consistently gaining far more separation than his counterpart Davante Adams, and I expect Rodgers to lean on him in a must-win game tonight.

I’ll lock in Wilson over 59.5 receiving yards as my FanDuel Best Bet for Thursday Night Football.

Have a great day, everyone!