The Miami Dolphins will attempt to lasso the final AFC Wild Card spot this afternoon when they welcome the New York Jets to Sun Life Stadium (1:00pm ET, CBS). The Dolphins are expected to hold up their end of the playoff bargain as they are presently lined as -5.5 NFL Odds home favorite; the Over/Under in the AFC East tilt is set at 41.5 points.
Miami is playing for a spot in the playoffs while New York, at least according to some rumors, could be playing for Rex Ryan's job. The Jets and Ryan would stand a far better chance were this game being played at MetLife Stadium, despite their 23-3 home loss to the Dolphins on December 1st, than Sun Life Stadium.
Miami had a three game winning streak snapped over the weekend as the Bills handed Joe Philbin's squad a 19-0 loss, but the Dolphins playoff standing actually improved as a result of New England's win over Baltimore.
All Miami needs to do now to secure the sixth and final playoff spot in the AFC is beat the Jets and have either the Ravens or Chiefs lose.
Victory is not assured, especially with the enigmatic Jets on tap, but it seems probable. Since suffering back to back home losses to the Bills and Ravens in October, the Dolphins are 3-1 at Sun Life Stadium with wins over the Bengals, Chargers, and Patriots. Miami's lone home loss in that stretch came against the Panthers, but it did out-gain Carolina in the 16-20 setback.
New York has been a mostly woeful road team, but it has showed up on occasion to either test or upset a host squad. Unfortunately for the Jets, most of those efforts took place earlier in the season.
New York is 0-4 in its last four road outings, falling to the Bills, Ravens, and Panthers by an average of 22.3 points per game. The Jets have won two of their last three games, though, and they are 5-3 straight up and 7-1 against the spread in their last eight games in Miami.
Notable Trends: The Dolphins are 1-8-1 against the spread in their last 10 games as a home favorite with a spread between 4 and 7.5 points and a total between 37 and 41 points.
New York Jets vs Miami Dolphins NFL Odds:
New York Jets +5.5 (-110), Over 41.5 (-110), +195 (Moneyline)
Miami Dolphins -5.5 (-110), Under 41.5 (-110), -230 (Moneyline)
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