Top 4 Picks for NFL Thursday Night Football: Jets vs. Browns (Week 17)

by Phil Wood |
Dec 28, 2023

The final â€œThursday Night Footballâ€ game of the season features the Cleveland Browns hosting the New York Jets. The Jets have nothing to play for, but the Browns can clinch a playoff berth with a victory. Will Joe Flacco continue his incredible play against the second-best pass defense in the NFL?

Here are our best bets and predictions for the â€œThursday Night Footballâ€ matchup between the New York Jets and Cleveland Browns.

Week 14 Thursday Night Football Best Bets

All bets are for one unit.

Browns -7 (-110 via Caesars Sportsbook)

Considering how good both of these pass defenses have been this season, seven points may seem like a lot. However, the Browns will find a way to score enough to get into double-digits, while the Jets will struggle to score 10 points.

Flacco has been incredible in his four games with the Browns, throwing for over 300 yards in his last three games. While he will likely struggle a bit against the Jets, the Brownsâ€™ defense will do damage to the Jets' offense. This will consistently set Flacco up in good field position against a defense that will be exhausted by the end of the game. The result will be the Browns winning this game by double digits.

New York Jets Under 10.5 (+130 via DraftKings Sportsbook)

The Jets have scored 30 points in two of their last three games. Sandwiched in between those two performances is a shutout loss to the Miami Dolphins. So, which Jets team will show up on Thursday? We expect it to be the one averaging just 15.7 points per game.

As good as the Browns have been defensively this season, they're allowing 20.7 points per game. Over the last five weeks, they're letting up over 30 points per game. Yet, the Jets' offense has been horrible against good defenses this season.

As long as Flacco takes care of the football, the defense will do enough to keep the Jets off the scoreboard. For this price, there's no reason not to take the under.

Breece Hall Under 48.5 Rushing Yards (-110 via bet365)

Breece Hall is coming off a 20-carry, 95-yard performance against the Washington Commanders. The 20 carries marked just the second time he hit that threshold this season, and his 95 yards were his third-most this season.

The Jets also led last week's game 27-7 at one point, which gave Hall more opportunities to run the ball. It's unlikely the Jets will ever lead against the Browns, let alone by three touchdowns.

Hall has only rushed for more than 48.5 yards five times. Before Sunday's performance, he'd gone six consecutive weeks with 40 or fewer rushing yards. The Browns' rush defense is their weakness, but that doesn't mean the Jets will do anything against it.

Amari Cooper Over 58.5 Receiving Yards (-110 via bet365)

Amari Cooper caught 11 passes for 265 yards and two touchdowns in the Browns 36-22 win over the Houston Texans last week. It was his second consecutive game over 100 yards and his third in a row over 75.

Over the past three weeks, Cooper has caught 22 passes and has been targeted at least eight times in every game. The Jets' pass defense will probably lock him up for much of the game, but that wonâ€™t stop Flacco from throwing the ball his way.

Cooper is the clear No. 1 option in Cleveland, and because Flacco has thrown seven interceptions this season, the Jets will probably hang around longer than expected in this one. That will keep the Browns throwing deep into the game, as Cooper has another nice performance.

Make sure to check out our other best bets for Thursday:

Phil Wood is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Phil, check out his archive and follow him @Phil_Wood_Jr.

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