Fresh off his Monday Night win, Matt DiLeo gives his best bet for this Thursday Night Football Matchup.
This Week 3 matchup will start in the TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville on Thursday, September 19th at 8:20pm.
Preview
The Titans (1-1) will travel to Jacksonville (0-2) after splitting their first 2 games at home. They looked good in Week 1 defeating the Browns to open the season. However, they struggled to beat the Jacoby Brissett led Colts in week 2. They will definitely be looking to bounce back and secure a win against their division rivals in Jacksonville. The Jaguars played a tough game against the Chiefs in week 1 and they saw Nick Foles go down with a season ending injury as well. Gardner Minshew II, a 6th round pick in last year’s draft is now calling the shots and actually playing very well. He led what could have been a game winning drive against the Texans last week where they failed to convert the 2-point conversion which would have given them the lead in the final minute. This is a huge game for both teams as the division seems to still be wide open and every divisional game will mean more to each team.
Titans
Let’s be real. Every year no one thinks the Titans will be good, yet for the past 3 seasons they have been 9-7. This is usually on the cusp of the wild card and they always seem to be in the race. Mariota may not be a future hall of famer, but as of now he is their franchise guy. They have a well-balanced team all around and they look average on both sides of the football. The Titans will need Derrick Henry to establish the ground game if they want to beat the Jaguars in Jacksonville and they will need Mariota to kick it up a gear. One thing the Titans have struggled with is playing on the road. They haven’t had a winning record on the road in any of the 3 seasons where they went 9-7.
Jaguars
The Jaguars were hoping Foles would rub some of the magic he had with the Eagles off on to the Jaguars but is basically done for the year after having surgery last week. Gardner Minshew II who probably never expected to play this year, now has full control of the reigns. He played very well when he came into the game in Week 1 against the Chiefs and even though they only scored 13 points, he played well last week too. If he plays at a high-level, I think they can steal the show and win this crucial game to get their first win of the season.
Bet Info and Best Bet
The Titans opened up as 1.5-point favorites and -125 on the Money line. This hasn’t moved much and probably won’t until game day, but I think it’s a fair price. The public seems to be all over the Titans -1.5 and everywhere you look everyone doesn’t trust the Jags.
I think this game could honestly go either way. I don’t think you can trust the Jaguars yet with Minshew and I don’t think you can trust the Titans on the road either. But if I had to put my money on it would take the home underdogs. This is a tough divisional game and although the Titans may have a talented roster, I think the Jaguars are solid enough defensively to keep it close and I like what I have seen so far from Minshew. There is just something about a home underdog against the public that you can’t pass up. You can take the points at +1.5, but either way I’m rolling with the home dogs and some Minshew Magic. Matty Ice Out.
