Monday Night Football

N.Y. Jets at Miami


New York’s defense has yielded only three touchdowns. The Jets will be coming hard after second-year pro Chad Henne, who will be making only his second NFL start. The Dolphins want Henne just to manage the game even though he has a bigger arm than Chad Pennington. Miami has outrushed its four opponents, 734-244, behind Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams. Expect the Jets to play eight in the box trying to force mistakes. The Jets should get a major boost with Braylon Edwards, but more so I think Mark Sanchez will bounce back with another efficient effort and work towards getting his team back in the win column. After some bad turnovers New York will dial back the plays and should focus on getting Thomas Jones and Leon Washington set up with the running game. The ground attack and more defense should be enough on Monday night to get the win. Jets head coach Rex Ryan and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer claimed Sanchez was successful in shaking off the humbling defeat with a solid week of practice. Wednesday's trade for Cleveland Browns receiver Braylon Edwards helped. Not only does Edwards provide a colossal downfield target, but the acquisition also took some of the attention off Sanchez. The Dolphins are at the bottom of the league in pass offense and the Jets have one of the most opportunistic secondaries in the NFL. Corners Darrelle Revis and Lito Sheppard can handle the Dolphins' wide receivers one-on-one, leaving everyone else to crowd the box and stop Miami's run game. The Jets simply do not give up big passing plays on defense. Miami is overhauled because of their huge win over the pathetic Bills last weekend and believe it or not Miami has only covered 14 of their last 51 games at home! The NY Jets are an awesome 20-5-2 against the spread in the last 27 meetings between these two. Even with a first-place team, Miami couldn't run on Ryan's defense last year, when he was coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens. They beat the Dolphins in the regular season and again in the playoffs, holding Miami to 71 and 52 yards rushing, respectively. Ryan is trying to mold a Ravens-style defense in New York, and the Dolphins will test his progress. The Jets' defense ranks with the best in the league and will be upgraded by the return of outside linebacker Calvin Pace from a four-game suspension. Miami had no success with the wildcat last year against Ryan's Ravens, who filled the gaps and didn't allow the big holes the scheme often creates.

My opinion in this one is to take the New York Jets -1

(Got that line several days back because of the value and would recommend this play still up to -3)