Monday Night Football Picks: New York Jets vs San Francisco 49ers
Week 1 is here! The 2024 Kickoff Game is tonight, we have our first trip to South America Friday night, a load of closely-lined matchups Sunday, and the NFL saved the best for last, in my opinion. In the first week of Monday Night Football, Aaron Rodgers returns to the competition for the first time in a year on the road in San Francisco to play the 49ers.
The Jets have returned a superb supporting cast for the future Hall of Famer. Only time will tell, though, how well he recovered from a torn Achilles tendon north of 40 years old. In a perfect world, Rodgers gets a warm-up game not against a defending conference champion. That won't be the case on Monday, as the Niners also return a ridiculous amount of talent on their roster. With the recent re-signings of Brandon Aiyuk and the Niners real MVP, Trent Williams, the team is at full strength heading into Week 1.
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Jets vs 49ers Betting Odds
New York Jets (+4) vs San Francisco 49ers (-4)
These betting odds opened up at (-6) for San Francisco. The line briefly made its way down to 3.5, only to be quickly bet back up to 4.5. I found several online sportsbooks that have the 49ers (-4). Spoiler alert: I do like the 49ers in this spot. I am not sure if it's our best bet or most profitable play for this game, but it's a value play at the worst with the 2 points of line movement.
Seventy percent of both the total money and tickets are on New York in this spot. With Aiyuk and Williams already back practicing, we have seen some buyback for the Niners. Will that continue throughout the week?
Moneyline
Jets: +180
49ers: -210
A little over 2-1 for the home team, the better-coached team, the battled-tested team, with the continuity they have at the quarterback position with Brock Purdy, isn't that expensive. The Jets beat the Bills in this same Week 1 Monday Night game, and that was after losing Rodgers on the opening series.
Point Spread
Over 44: -110
Under 44: -110
The point spread opened up at 46.5. Bettors see the Jets, a team who held 2023 opponents under 16 points six times, making touchdowns even harder to come by in 2024. This is because they will have a quarterback who can keep his defense off the field for a lot longer than we saw from the infamous Zach Wilson last year.
Jets vs 49ers Betting Analysis
The San Francisco 49ers were outstanding in 2023, but the season didn't come without its hiccups. They struggled in the middle of the season, but that was due to injuries. Their performance, however, in the playoffs, was perplexing. How could such an elite team with a more than capable quarterback and elite head coach be so inconsistent just in one 60-minute football game?
The Niners 20-point comeback in the NFC Championship game may have been a little too much on their emotions heading into a Super Bowl matchup with the Chiefs, but what that game did was provide the 49ers with a newfound confidence in their ability to A-not quit, B-come back, and C-finish on top.
Many were worried about the identity of the 49ers who some called a game manager under center. I don't know many game managers averaging 9.6 yards per pass, though. I see Purdy being even better in 2024 and contending once again for the league MVP.
Jets vs 49ers Betting Pick
I am focused mostly on the Niners, because we really don’t know what to believe about the Jets. We haven’t seen Rodgers play one game for this team yet. They certainly weren’t going to give him any time to play in the preseason.
If anyone can take the Jets to the Super Bowl, it's Rodgers. However, father time is undefeated. Heck, he could still do it. There is a whole heck of a lot of rust to knock off, though. I don't care who you are. If you take this much time off of live competition, which has essentially been a year and a half, you won't be as sharp as usual.
Pick: San Francisco 49ers (-4)
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