The last match of the opening week of the NFL 2024 season comes along in the Monday Night Football, which this week takes us to the home of the NFC champions as the San Francisco 49ers host the New York Jets.
The 49ers were minutes away from being Super Bowl winners last term and now they start their quest to go one better. The Jets saw their season basically finished after four plays and will be out to show why there was so much hype around them last year.
San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers took Kansas City Chiefs all the way to overtime in the Super Bowl back in February but they came up dry when it really mattered but having led 10-3 at the half they would have been confident of getting the job done. They have had to dwell on that disappointment for the better part of eight months and you wonder what the reaction will be. They are that good on paper that they should come out here and look to dominate but these are humans and that can’t be guaranteed.
The other question that might need answering in the opening few weeks of the season is whether Brandon Aiyuk remains as potent now he has got the big deal he was holding out for. The pressure will be on Brock Purdy too to see if he can deliver for a second season in succession. With his contract still favourable for the 49ers, this might be their best chance of a Super Bowl title as this elite offense and super strong defence make up a top side.
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New York Jets
The New York Jets will hope to show us what we expected to see from them last season but couldn’t because Aaron Rodgers went down for the year after just four plays. They battled well enough when you consider the size of the drop off between quarterback number one and two but it was pretty obvious that their division, playoff and therefore Super Bowl hopes went with the Rodgers Achilles. He is fit again now though and looked good in practice so hopes are high once again for the Jets.
The beauty of this Jets side is they don’t need their offense to do anything super special because their defence is so good. That is why they were able to remain competitive without Rodgers last season. If he can just stay upright and make the big plays when they are needed then the Jets are definitely going to be playoff contenders but Rodgers does have to prove that he can still be as significant after the best part of a year out at his age.
Betting
We saw a lot of low scoring primetime matches last season and I think we could be on for another here. New York Jets head to San Francisco with arguably the best defence in football in their armoury but on the other side of the ball we have to remember that Aaron Rodgers has thrown one competitive pass in about 21 months and it is only natural after such a long period for him to need time to find his timing and gain some cohesion with his receivers, something that would have been hard anyway given the San Francisco pass rushing potential.
San Francisco have a potent offense but Brandon Aiyuk only joined up with the team fairly late after holding out for his contract so that isn’t going to be ideal and there is talk over a niggle for Christian McCaffrey which equally isn’t great. Even if that offense is fully functioning they’ll do well to overpower this Jets defence which just looks like it has no weakness. I’m expecting something of a defensive battle here and the 44.5 point line looks a little too high to me in this one.
Tips
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