Keagan Smith takes you through his preview, prediction, and pick for Sunday’s game between the New York Jets and Jacksonville Jaguars in NFL Week 15.

Week 15 of the NFL regular season has arrived, bringing a loaded slate of games on Sunday. While not the most exciting one on the schedule, the meeting between the Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Jets in Duval County should make bettors and fantasy players happy given the state of one of these teams. With an UDFA quarterback making his first career start, will this play out as an easy win for New York as anticipated?

Read on for a Jets vs. Jaguars prediction and pick on DraftKings Sportsbook for this Week 15 contest.

Jets vs. Jaguars prediction, preview

New York Jets

How does this happen every single year? The Jets are a meager 3-10 on the campaign and now turn to third-string quarterback and undrafted free agent Brady Cook with Tyrod Taylor (groin) and Justin Fields (knee) both out due to injury. He saw limited action after Taylor exited last week, completing just 46.7% of his passes for 163 yards and two interceptions. So, the outlook appears grim given the signal-caller, but he won’t have many weapons available either — Garrett Wilson is still sidelined on IR and Mason Taylor (neck) won’t play today. An already bad offense averaging 19.7 PPG (26th) and 276.2 yards (28th) now takes a turn for the worse with essentially only Breece Hall and a group of pass catchers headlined by AD Mitchell and John Metchie available. New York’s offensive line also allows a league-worst QB sack percentage, so Cook will likely have a very rough time in this outing. The Jets’ defense remains quite poor as well with 26.8 points (27th) and 330.4 yards per game allowed (17th). This unit is among the NFL’s worst against the run, allowing an average of 139.5 rushing yards (30th) to opponents. Finally, New York sits dead last with 0.2 takeaways per game while the pass rush ranks just 26th among all teams.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Unlike the lowly Jets, there are plenty of positives to write about the Jaguars. At 9-4, they’re currently alone atop the AFC South with a legitimate shot to win the division alongside a four-game winning streak to boot. In year one under head coach Liam Coen, Jacksonville averages 25.2 points (ninth-best) and 327.8 yards per game (17th) behind one of the NFL’s more impressive rushing attacks. Travis Etienne and Bhayshul Tuten form a one-two punch that’s tough to bring down, posting 121.7 rushing yards per contest. However, Trevor Lawrence has quietly played a couple of clean games despite a season-long completion percentage of 59.5%. With weapons like Jakobi Meyers, Brian Thomas Jr. and Brenton Strange, the passing attack has looked better as of late and will likely have another quality outing today. Defensively, the Jaguars allow an average of 20.9 points and 310.4 yards (both 11th). How do they do it? A pass funnel defense that is the league’s best against the run with just 82.9 yards allowed on the ground on average, stifling opposing halfbacks with ease. Jacksonville allows 227.5 passing yards per game (22nd) and doesn’t excel at rushing the passer with the 28th-ranked sack percentage, but the unit still sits second in takeaways with 1.8 per outing as well.

Jets vs. Jaguars pick, best bet

On DraftKings Sportsbook, the Jaguars are -13.5 home favorites with -1050 odds to win on the Moneyline. The Jets are listed at +675 to win outright with a game total of 41.5 points. As far as betting splits go, 92% of straight bets favor New York while 58% are on the team to cover. On the total, 65% of the wagers favor the over.

This game might be a bloodbath. The Jaguars are nearly at full strength and have much more talent across the board than this depleted Jets roster, plus Coen is clearly a better coach than his counterpart Aaron Glenn. The 13.5-point spread feels wide, but there’s a pretty good chance that the home team can still cover it. Even with the Jags’ secondary looking weak at times, the odds that an UDFA quarterback steps in with this group of pass catchers and moves the chains are quite low. To top that off, even Hall probably won’t get much going on the ground against the league’s best defense against the rush. That neutralizes the only weapon at the Jets’ disposal. They might legitimately get shut out on the road here.

On the other side of the spectrum, New York’s run defense couldn’t stop a baby taking its first steps, much less a rushing attack that Coen has schemed into one that performs above the level the stats indicate. Etienne and Tuten pass the eye test, and the former sits 10th among all halfbacks with 917 rushing yards and elite breakaway ability. He could easily run for 100+ yards and a couple of scores without breaking a sweat against this Jets unit, so I love the rushing lines for both of the backs in this one.

In short, the Jets are outgunned and outmatched in almost every way. The Jaguars should cover even at this -13.5 line in what may become the biggest blowout of the season.

Best bet: JAX Jaguars -13.5 (-118)