If someone would have said at the start of this NFL season that both the Seahawks and Jaguars had the exact same schedule at their week 14 meeting, people would have thought that person should have their sanity level checked. Yet, here we are. In a season where the Blake Bortles-led Jaguars are sitting at 8-4 and hosting the Seattle Seahawks who are…you guessed it…also 8-4. This game carries a great deal of importance, which is one of the reasons the NFL has flexed this game from the early slot to the late-afternoon slot, with a start time of 4:25pm EST. Let’s take a look inside the numbers and see if we can get another winner, bringing our record to 8-2 ATS.
Seattle Seahawks vs. Jacksonville Jaguars NFL week 14
Date/Time: Sunday, December 10th at 4:25pm EST
TV: Fox
Pro Football Betting Odds from 5Dimes
Pro Football Betting Favorite: Jaguars -2.5
Total: 39.5
Seattle Seahawks
The Seahawks are coming off a huge victory over the Eagles at home on Sunday Night Football. The Seahawks were an underdog and came in with a depleted defense. The signature “Legion of Boom” defense has turned into more like a “Legion of Whom?” with many holes having to be filled with backups. They completely shut down Philadelphia. Now, they head out east to face a Jacksonville squad who has easily been the shocker of the NFL season. Seattle is scoring 24.2 ppg and allowing 18.5 ppg. They have the 12th ranked total offense in the NFL, garnering 357 ypg. The calling card of the Seahawks is their defense. Although they’re banged up as we mentioned, they’re still #7 in total defense in the NFL, only allowing 321 ypg. They play just as well on the road, with a 4-2 record both at Seahawks Stadium as well as when they hit the road. The Seahawks have won two straight and look better as the season progresses. The major concern for the Seahawks this week is how they’ll perform traveling east after a huge win over arguably the best team in the NFL on a stand-alone night game.
Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jaguars spent many seasons as the laughing stock of the NFL. Even this season, they were picked by most to finish dead last in the AFC South. Blake Bortles is doing his best to be a game manager, and letting his defense do the heavy lifting this season. Their total offense is ranked #23 in the NFL, as Bortles is leading the squad to 335 ypg. Their defense is ranked #1 in the NFL, allowing a paltry 14.8 ypg, that is a full two points less than their closest competitor. It’s worth noting that the Jags have faced the 30th ranked strength of schedule this season. However, they’re shutting down whoever is showing up across the line of scrimmage. The Jaguars are still getting little to no respect from the talking heads and the media. This will undoubtedly be their biggest game of the season, and maybe in the past 5 seasons. This will be their true test of whether they’re a “pretender or contender.” Look for the Jaguars pass rush to be a big key in this one.
Sin City Sharp (@SinCitySharp on Twitter) Free Pick:
Early money has been pouring in on Seattle, with 64% of early bets coming in on the Seahawks. The Jaguars know they must win this game in order to finally silence the critics, and catapult their squad into one of the top-tier teams in the NFL this season. The Seahawks are always an extremely public team week in and week out. Suffice to say, the Jaguars will have no problem getting up for this game. There will surely be a full stadium (finally) in Jacksonville and they will be fully behind their team. Jaguars’ defense will be the star of the show, and do more than enough to help Bortles manage the game to a victory and more importantly, a cover.
Jaguars -2.5
Kyle Hunter is 47-23 in his last 70 plays overall. All his guaranteed premium packages are here.
