Jagaurs vs. Titans Prediction
Will the Jacksonville Jaguars keep the Tennessee Titans out of the playoffs today when the AFC South rivals meet at 4:25 p.m. ET?
Who Oddsmakers Like: Tennessee. According to oddsmakers from online sports book Bovada.lv, the Titans are 1.5-point home favorites to beat the Jaguars, who opened as 5-point road underdogs. The total, meanwhile, sits at 41.5 points after hitting the board at 41.
Who the Public Likes: As of Sunday morning, 55% of the betting tickets are on the Jaguars and 57% of the money is also on Jacksonville to cover the spread.
Who the Trends Like: The over is 4-0 in the last four meetings between these two teams and is 4-1-1 in the last six meetings in Nashville. Meanwhile, the favorite is 4-1-1 against the spread in the last six meetings and so is the home team. The Jaguars are 9-3-2 against the spread in their last 14 games versus the Titans.
Who We Like: Jacksonville. The Jaguars essentially have nothing to play for but if you believe in what Doug Marrone said earlier this week, his squad will not rest starters and are prepared to compete. Still, that could be mind games. If the playoffs started today, this would be the exact matchup in the wild card round, albeit in Jacksonville. Thus, even though Marrone says the Jags will compete, it’s highly unlikely the game play will be specific since these two teams could meet again next week.
Having said all that, and my apologies for being contradicting, but I just don’t trust Tennessee at the moment. The Titans might be on the verge of a playoff berth but they’ve been a paper tiger all season. Marcus Mariota has regressed, Mike Mularkey’s game plans have been uninspiring, and the defense is merely average. They tend to play hard at home but every year there’s a team that suffers a horrific collapse in December and falls out of the playoff picture on the last week. I’m banking on that being the Titans in 2017.
Let’s just hope for the sake of Jacksonville backers that Marrone doesn’t start pulling starters after halftime.
NFL WEEK 17 PREDICTIONS: JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS +1.5