Sports
Week 9 TNF: Texans-Jets Preview, Props & Prediction
Oct 27, 2024; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) looks to pass against the New England Patriots during the second half at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images The New York Jets will be featured in primetime for the fifth time already as they kick off Week 9 of the NFL’s regular season at home against the Houston Texans on Thursday night.
While the Jets (2-6) are riding a five-game losing streak, the Texans (6-2) travel on a short week just five days after losing another star wide receiver to a major injury.
ODDS AND TRENDS
Despite sitting near the bottom of the AFC standings, the Jets are 2.0-point favorites. That has led to heavy action on the Texans at sportsbooks including BetRivers, where Houston has been backed by 55 percent of the spread-line money and 60 percent of the total bets.
The Texans’ +105 moneyline has attracted 60 percent of the bets, while the Jets have been backed by 61 percent of the money at -127.
Oddsmakers are expecting a relatively low-scoring game. The Over/Under at DraftKings is 42.5 points — slightly higher than the 42.0 being offered at BetRivers, where the Over has been a popular play with 77 percent of the money.
However, the book reported that six of the Texans’ past seven games have gone Under the total points line.
PROP PICKS
–Tank Dell Over 4.5 Receptions (-125 at DraftKings): Dell steps into the No. 1 receiver role for Houston following the season-ending injury to Stefon Diggs and with Nico Collins still recovering from a significant hamstring injury. Dell has a modest 24 receptions on 38 targets through seven games, but has at least four catches in four of his past five and figures to be a focal point of the passing game moving forward. This has been the most popular player prop at the book. Another intriguing play is Xavier Hutchinson at +120 to have at least 25 receiving yards.
–Davante Adams Anytime TD (+135 at BetRivers): Texans running back Joe Mixon reaching the end zone on Thursday night has received a higher percentage of money at the book (3.2), but we like the better payout on Adams, who has received 1.4 percent of the money. Adams has seven receptions on 15 targets in two games since being reunited with Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, but hasn’t scored since Week 2 with Las Vegas.
THE NEWS
It has been exactly six weeks since the Jets have won a football game.
New York is averaging just 16.6 points during its slide, which has seen it score 17 points or fewer three times. The Jets’ season high for points is 24, accomplished in each of their victories.
New York has often settled for field-goal attempts — Greg Zuerlein is 9-for-15 — or failed to make a key play on the offensive end. The Jets are ranked 25th in scoring offense (18.8 points per game) and 24th in total offense (310.6 yards per game), with Rodgers throwing 12 touchdown passes against seven interceptions.
The misery might have reached a zenith on Sunday when the host New England Patriots drove 70 yards in 12 plays to score the winning points with 22 seconds left in their 25-22 victory.
“We’ve got to score touchdowns,” Rodgers said. “Can’t leave it up to Greg or try and pin it on Greg. We had a lot of opportunities to score 30, to make it a two-score game at times and didn’t do it.”
The Jets fired Robert Saleh as coach after their record dropped to 2-3. They are 0-3 under interim coach Jeff Ulbrich, who doubles as defensive coordinator.
Despite the injuries to Collins and Diggs, Houston is in a good position as it hits Week 9 with four victories in its past five games.
“A goal we had was to start fast, and I believe that we’ve been putting on some good ball, but we have a lot to still clean up,” said Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud, who has thrown 11 touchdown passes and just four interceptions. “It’s just exciting times. It’s coming into the two hardest months of ball (in) November and December.
“We get to end October on a prime-time game, and it’s going to be a great matchup against the Jets, and we’ve got to be able to be ready and try to finish October the right way.”
KEY STAT
Mixon has been a force with three straight 100-yard rushing performances. He has carried the ball 25 times in each of the past two games, and has at least 102 rushing yards in four of his past five games overall.
INJURY REPORT
Houston running back Dameon Pierce (groin) was ruled out of the contest on Wednesday. Offensive lineman Jarrett Patterson (concussion), linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair (knee) and safety Jimmie Ward (groin) will also miss the game.
New York will be without five-time Pro Bowl linebacker C.J. Mosley (neck) for the second straight game. Other Jets who were ruled out were receiver Allen Lazard (chest), guard Alijah Vera-Tucker (ankle), defensive lineman Leki Fotu (knee) and safeties Tony Adams (hamstring) and Ashtyn Davis (concussion).
Also, the Jets placed Zuerlein on injured reserve and signed fellow kickers Riley Patterson and Spencer Shrader to the practice squad. Either Patterson or Shrader will be elevated to the active roster to handle the kicking duties.
THEY SAID IT
–“It’s tough news to hear, especially with how much (Diggs) pours into it. That’s (a) guy that gave his all to everything we asked him to do. He’s hurting, of course, and we’re hurting for him.” –Houston coach DeMeco Ryans on Diggs’ injury
–“We’ve just got to be better collectively. Every single human being out there has got to be better. Aaron has got to be better. Coaches got to be better. All of us got to be better.” –Ulbrich
PREDICTION
The Jets’ offensive issues aren’t easily correctable with an aging quarterback who lacks the mobility he long thrived on and a playbook that lacks creativity. Yes, the Texans are traveling on a short week and doing so without their top two wideouts. But Houston is tied for second in the AFC because it is well-rounded. The Texans enter with the league’s No. 2-ranked total defense and are third in the NFL with 27.0 sacks. –Texans 23, Jets 20
–Field Level Media
Sports
Why Tiger Woods Playing the Masters Seems Unlikely
I think I’m getting ready to turn off mobile notifications for Tiger Woods’ tweets.
I must have turned them on sometime after the car crash in 2021, when he almost lost his leg and his remaining golf career hung by a thread. Or it could have been later on in 2023, as I waited to see how he’d address the ludicrous PGA Tour-LIV “merger” that never happened.
Really, I just want to hear when Woods will try to play again. But any golf fan knows the two kinds of Woods tweets.
1. The statement announcing he’s going to have another surgery. Or 2. The promotional post, for his foundation or something else.
I got a notification this week that Woods posted, only for it to be a retweet of his apparel brand, Sun Day Red. Did you know “The Pioneer Willow applies a clean blucher construction to our highest performance technology, built from the ground up to serve the athlete first”? Riveting stuff.
He didn’t tweet the week of the Genesis Invitational, perhaps too busy with his responsibilities hosting the event. But he knows how to make a headline, to keep the hype building.
That week, at Woods’ press conference in the capacity as host, he didn’t rule out playing the Masters in two months, or playing the PGA Tour Champions now that he’s 50, or captaining the 2027 U.S. Ryder Cup team. But the more you think about it, the more you see these as empty headlines. Not ruling it out means no decision has been made one way or another.
OK. Let us know when you know, I guess!
If anyone needs a brief refresher, Woods last played at the 2024 Open Championship. He had his sixth back surgery that fall for a nerve impingement, ruptured an Achilles while ramping up his training in March and had back surgery No. 7 for a disc replacement this past October.
As recently as December, he told reporters he could only chip and putt at that point, but he’s graduated to hitting full shots now. “Yeah, I’m able to. Not well every day, but I can hit them,” Woods said this month at the Genesis.
That’s why I’m skeptical about this Masters return.
He needs to be hitting full shots well, every day, by Round 1 on April 9. If not, his record streak of 24 made cuts will be in danger. The rest of the golf world is getting younger, more fit; Woods’ last three Masters finishes — 47th, WD after making the cut on the number, 60th — are his three worst since he was 20 years old.
I’m intrigued by the idea that he could sign up for the Champions Tour just to get a couple of rounds in while being allowed to drive a cart. Honestly, he’d be near the top of the leaderboard if not lapping the field, and it would send a bunch of people scrambling to figure out just how you can watch the old guys’ circuit.
But as his body breaks down, the real struggle for Woods has been to walk the course for four rounds, and as he’s said in the past, Augusta National is no breeze in that department.
So the not-ruling-it-out declaration was a salesman’s tactic from someone who’s been around the block and who knows the golf media and fandom all too well. Someone give me a ring if he’s playing in April. Notifications — off.
Sports
Lu Dort’s Antics Outshine Big Win for Oklahoma City Thunder
Luguentz Dort is a dirty player.
I’m not saying something entirely unheard of with this take. Dort, along with most players on the Thunder, benefit from a whistle not given to the rest of the league. Friday night’s matchup between the Nuggets and Thunder showed that at full effect.
This game was very physical from start to finish. These two teams do not like each other, and I feel much of that comes from the SGA vs. Jokic MVP debates. Jokic is probably the better player, but Gilgeous-Alexander won the MVP last year and knocked the Nuggets out of the playoffs.
Things are different this time around. Jokic has far more help than in years past. Denver isn’t quite fully healthy yet, but in spurts, you’ve seen what this team could do in the playoffs.
OKC and Denver met at the start of the month, but the Nuggets were still missing multiple role players, and Jokic had a bit of a down night in only his second game back from injury. Even still, we saw a level of chippiness in this one that you normally won’t see in the NBA.
What happened on Friday had been building for the better part of two seasons.
While trying to get back on defense on a made basket, Dort purposefully hip-checked and tripped Jokic, leading to a mid-court fight between Jokic and Jaylin Williams.
Dort was given a flagrant two and ejected from the game, something Coach Daigneault disagreed with. He claimed that any player who trips someone running up the floor should be ejected now that this precedent has been set.
In most cases, if something like this occurs, a player should probably be ejected. Rocket’s Tari Eason did something similar earlier this week, and it led to Vince Williams Jr. tearing his ACL. Physicality is great in basketball, but dumb plays like the one Dort made are dangerous and could potentially injure a superstar like Jokic.
Another key factor is that Dort doesn’t deserve any benefit of the doubt. This isn’t a one-off play. He’s a Draymond Green-like character who is always toeing the line between fair and foul.
Dort has countless plays like this. If you feel like he’s close to doing anything dirty, he should be removed from the game and fined, because he’s constantly committing non-basketball fouls.
The Thunder did go on to win in OT, but luckily, these teams meet again in less than 10 days, so I doubt this is the end of this beef.
Sports
After capturing gold, Wild trio focused on Blues
Feb 4, 2026; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Minnesota Wild left wing Matt Boldy (12) celebrates defenseman Jared Spurgeon (46) winning goal against the Nashville Predators during the overtime period at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images A trio of United States Olympic gold medal winners are about to return “home.”
It’s likely that fans from the “State of Hockey” will welcome them back with a roar.
Matt Boldy and defensemen Quinn Hughes and Brock Faber will be front and center when the Minnesota Wild face off against the St. Louis Blues on Sunday in Saint Paul, Minn. It will be their first home game since Feb. 2 for the Wild, who had a three-week break for the Milan Cortina Olympics.
Faber might get the loudest cheer when he is recognized as part of a U.S. team that won the nation’s first gold medal in men’s hockey since 1980. The local product grew up in suburban Maple Grove, Minn., and starred collegiately for the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
How’s he feeling after the whirlwind of February?
“Good enough, right?” Faber said. “I played hockey the whole time, so I’m still in game shape.”
The Wild have split their two games since returning from the Olympic break. They stormed to a 5-2 road win against the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night but lost by the same score versus the Utah Mammoth on Friday.
The loss might have come with added cost as veteran forward Joel Eriksson Ek left the game after taking a high stick to the face.
Eriksson Ek’s status is uncertain for Sunday. He has 42 points (17 goals, 25 assists) in 54 games this season.
“We all know the type of player ‘Ekky’ is and the situations we count on him to play in,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “It’s unfortunate, but hopefully he’s OK.”
St. Louis also will try to bounce back from a loss after falling short 3-1 against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night. Pavel Buchnevich scored the lone goal for the Blues.
Blues forward Jake Neighbours said he and his teammates needed to come out with a better effort against the Wild. He said the team recorded a 5-1 victory over the Seattle Kraken on Thursday because of a great effort level and lost its most recent game because of a reduced effort level.
“To me, it’s battles,” Neighbours said. “I thought on Thursday, our compete (level) was really high. We were excited. There was a lot of energy on the bench and in the dressing room.
“For whatever reason, (on Saturday), it just didn’t seem like we could muster up the momentum and the energy to take over the game.”
Joel Hofer could get the start for the Blues in net one night after Jordan Binnington turned aside 30 of 32 shots against the Devils. Hofer is 13-11-3 with a 2.87 goals-against average and an .897 save percentage this season, and he is 1-0-0 with a 1.00 GAA and a .944 save percentage in his only career game against Minnesota.
Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson likely will get the nod after fellow netminder Jesper Wallstedt started against Utah. Gustavsson is 21-9-6 with a 2.60 GAA and a .909 save percentage this season, and he is 5-2-0 with a 2.32 GAA and a .919 save percentage in eight career appearances against the Blues.
–Field Level Media
Why Tiger Woods Playing the Masters Seems Unlikely
Lu Dort’s Antics Outshine Big Win for Oklahoma City Thunder
