2017 AFC Championship Odds and Betting Preview – A Closer Look at the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Defense and Ground Game Still Key For Jags vs. Pats
The Jacksonville Jaguars have made a quantum leap this season, establishing themselves very clearly as an AFC power. And now they have the opportunity to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl, provided they can get past perhaps the most daunting obstacle imaginable. They will have to go to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough and take on the New England Patriots on Sunday at 3 PM ET. If you are a VietBet customer, you can get reduced juice before the game starts, and you can continue to place wagers even after the kickoff, using state-of-the-art software from Live Betting Ultra.
Jaguars vs Patriots – 2017 AFC Championship Odds:
In the NFL playoff odds that have been posted on this game by the folks at VietBet, New England is favored at home:
New England Patriots -8 (+100)
Jacksonville Jaguars +8 (-120)
Over 47 points -110
Under 47 points -110
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There was going to be no doubt about the change in “culture” when Doug Marrone, the head coach, and Tom Coughlin, the former Giants coach who is now the director of football operations, put their heads together. This is a team that wants to play hard-nosed football, and that entails two things first and foremost – running the ball with a certain degree of effectiveness, and stopping the other team from scoring. To their credit, they have managed to do both. The Jags are leading the NFL in rushing yards, with 141 per game, and they have a defensive unit that is easily among the top three in the National Football League.
Their philosophy helped propel them to an AFC South title this season, and after a 10-3 victory over the Buffalo Bills in the wild-card round, they went up to Heinz Field last weekend and won for the second time against the Pittsburgh Steelers. So now here they are.
Can they actually beat New England? Well, that’s one of the questions we are concerned with. The other is whether they can cover the point spread. These are two different matters, of course.
If you saw Blake Bortles over the last two regular-season games and in the wild-card game, you would have felt you were witnessing a very shaky individual indeed. He had a lot of difficulty getting off accurate throws, and against the Bills, in particular, he was missing the target badly even on short passes. But he regained some composure against the Steelers, passing for 214 yards, and Jacksonville fans are happy about the fact that he has been mistake-free in these two playoff games.
Leonard Fournette, the first-round draft pick out of LSU, was something of a concern going into the Pittsburgh game, as he had averaged only 3.1 yards per carry over his previous five outings. But he had 106 yards and three touchdowns against the Steelers, and VietBet patrons should remember that the Patriots have surrendered 4.7 yards per carry this year. We must add a proviso here; Fournette was removed with an ankle injury last week, then came back into the game and averaged just a little over two yards per carry going forward. He was also in an automobile accident this past week, although reportedly there was no damage done to him at all.
The Jacksonville defense allows fewer yards and points per drive than any other team in the NFL, so they are ideally suited to deal with the New England offense, which is first in the league in both of those offensive categories. And we have seen in the past how Tom Brady was affected by a consistent pass rush. Well, they don’t get much more consistent than the Jaguars do, as they chalked up 54 sacks this season. Calais Campbell had an All-Pro season and was second in the league in sacking the quarterback. If Brady is hurried into making decisions too quickly, he’s got a stellar secondary to deal with, including cornerbacks Jalen Ramsey and AJ Bouye, in addition to safety Barry Church. There is no doubt that Jacksonville possesses the capability to keep things close, especially as they have been the second-most successful team in the league in red zone touchdown percentage. Don’t sell them short here.
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By Charles Jay
