You could call it the Florida Man showdown.
Tomorrow night, the Jacksonville Jaguars and Miami Dolphins meet to kick off Week 3 of the NFL season for Thursday Night Football. The matchup is about as interesting as it gets for two teams with a combined record of 1-3.
Jags a 3-point favorite
At the time of publishing, the Jaguars are a 3-point favorite and the game carries a 48-point over/under. Sports betting in Florida isn’t legal; however, you can bet legally at retail sportsbooks in Mississippi.
Per CBS Sports, the game is as close as the spread indicates purely based on big-picture odds. The Jags have only won two of the past eight games in which they were favored. The Dolphins are 7-2 against the spread in the past nine games following a loss.
FanDuel Sportsbook’s NFL prop bets include:
- Gardner Minshew passing yards O/U: 264.5
- Ryan Fitzpatrick passing yards O/U: 270.5
- Myles Gaskin rushing yards O/U: 37.5
- James Robinson rushing yards O/U: 68.5
- DeVante Parker receiving yards O/U: 59.5
- DJ Chark receiving yards O/U: 53.5
Jags coming off tough loss
The Jaguars enter tomorrow night’s NFL game with surprisingly high spirits.
The team started the season with an upset win over the Indianapolis Colts. They went into Nashville this past weekend and lost 33-30 to the Tennessee Titans. Minshew threw an interception amid what could’ve been a game-tying or game-winning drive.
The team is relatively healthy and its offense seems to be clicking thanks to Minshew’s accurate passing and the emergence of undrafted, free-agent rookie running back James Robinson.
The Jags defense is 30th in passing yards against and 10th against the run. The team’s offense is 21st in passing and 12th in rushing.
Dolphins looking for first win
The Fins come into Thursday’s game winless on the season and 5-13 in their past 18.
Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick is off to a rough start, throwing for a pair of touchdowns and three interceptions. The Dolphins run game is sputtering as it tries to find its identity amid three running backs: Matt Breida, Jordan Howard and second-year back Myles Gaskin.
The Dolphins defense currently ranks 26th in passing yards against and 29th in rushing yards against. To get the win, the Dolphins will need to shore up their defense and hope that Fitzpatrick can capture some of the magic he’s shown in the past.
Other game notes: Facial hair and uniforms
Perhaps the most interesting off-the-field storyline heading into the game is the tongue-in-cheek jabs that Minshew and Fitzpatrick threw at each other earlier this week.
Fitzpatrick (he of the Moses-like beard) told reporters that beards are cooler than mustaches and that, “Guys that grow mustaches have patchy sides.”
In response, Minshew (he of the walrus-like mustache) said he’s fully capable of growing a beard but that he feels a responsibility to respect his elders, “especially when they’re much older.”
In addition to the repartee between quarterbacks, the Jaguars promised in a tweet that the team would wear all teal if the tweet could get 5,000 retweets. At the time of publishing, the tweet has more than 6,000 retweets and it is confirmed that the Jags will wear their all-teals.
