Only One in Seven Gives Jets Chance to Beat Browns on Thursday Night Football

Short week combined with Cleveland's stingy defense present dauting task for New York in primetime

Author:
Ralph Ventre
Publish date:
Dec 28, 2023 2:57 PM EST

In this story:

The home team on a short week is the pick for the Thursday Night Football finale according to Sports Illustrated's expert prediction panel.

The weekly game-by-game selections suggest that the New York Jets have a nearly insurmountable task ahead of them when they visit the Cleveland Browns on December 28 for an 8:15 pm ET kickoff.

Six of seven panelists projected a loss for the Jets in the Week 17 primetime affair. SI senior writer Conor Orr was the lone dissenter, backing the underdog Jets to pull off an upset on the road.

As always, all SI weekly game picks are straight up. On the betting line, Cleveland sits as a 7.5-point home favorite over the Jets.

Cleveland boasts the NFL's top-ranked defense. The Browns allow league lows in yards per game (260.3) and yards per play (4.46).

"They’re doing a really nice job defensively, they’re playing at an elite level," said Jets' head coach Robert Saleh on Tuesday in Florham Park. "Their front four gets after it, Myles Garrett is as good as anybody in football. Za’Darius [Smith] is having a really nice year. Coach [Jim] Schwartz does as good of a job as anybody, in terms of game planning and mixing up his coverages."

Making his second straight start for New York with Zach Wilson remaining in concussion protocol, quarterback Trevor Siemian leads the NFL's bottom-ranked offense (263.5) up against the team that ended his 2019 season in primetime. In Siemian's Week 16 start, the Jets scored three offensive touchdowns with win over Washington marking only second time all season the team has achieved that feat.

"They’re good at all three levels. Upfront obviously with the two edge guys, their whole front is great, they have players at linebacker, and then their DBs are sticky, so a great challenge," said Siemian.

Meanwhile, the Jets' defense, which ranks third overall (294.8), will have to contend with former teammate Joe Flacco. Signing off the street, Flacco has won three starts in a row and has passed for 1,307 yards and 10 touchdowns over a four-game sample.

In terms of money line wagering odds, the Browns have moved to a -376 favorite over the Jets, who are priced at +295. Meanwhile, the expected point total (over/under) keeps dropping, down to 33.5. The odds are provided by SI Sportsbook.

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