Pittsburgh Steelers vs. New York Jets 2019: Prediction, Odds, Preview For Week 16 NFL Game

The Pittsburgh Steelers have little margin for error in the final two weeks of the 2019 NFL season. The Steelers and Tennessee Titans have the same record in the race for the AFC’s final wild-card berth, but the tiebreaker could go either way with some key games remaining.

With a Week 17 matchup against the Baltimore Ravens looming, Pittsburgh has to take care of business in Week 16 when they take on the New York Jets.

The Steelers are three-point favorites at MetLife Stadium Sunday afternoon, according to OddsShark. The total is 38.

The Jets are well out of contention, sitting in third place in the AFC East with a 5-9 record. New York was just blown out by Baltimore 42-21 in the last Thursday night game of the year. They’ve lost two of their last three games, including a loss to the one-win Cincinnati Bengals.

Pittsburgh was beaten by the Buffalo Bills 17-10 in a Week 15 nailbiter. The Steelers had won seven of their previous eight games.

Devlin Hodges was exposed against one of the NFL’s best defenses, throwing four interceptions on “Sunday Night Football.” It marked the sixth time in seven games that Pittsburgh scored no more than one offensive touchdown.

That kind of offensive production won’t allow the Steelers to get very far in the playoffs if they reach the postseason.

An elite defense has kept Pittsburgh in the wild-card hunt. It’s led the Steelers past most of the non-playoff contenders on their schedule.

Pittsburgh is 8-1 against teams that are out of the playoff picture. New York is 1-4 against current playoff teams, only beating the Dallas Cowboys, who could very well end up missing the postseason.

The Steelers’ defense was stellar, once again, in Week 15, holding the Bills to 261 yards of offense. Pittsburgh ranks seventh in scoring defense, fourth in total defense and third in opponents’ yards per play.

No team has given up fewer yards per play then the Steelers over the last three weeks. Pittsburgh has held 10 straight opponents to fewer than 25 points in regulation.

Sam Darnold and the Jets have had a few big offensive performances. They’ve largely come against bad defenses.

New York scored exactly 34 points in each contest of a three-game winning streak against the New York Giants, Washington Redskins and Oakland Raiders. None of those opponents rank better than 22nd in points allowed.

The Bills and New England Patriots are the two Jets’ opponents that have defenses that compare to the Steelers. Buffalo and New England held New York to 16 combined points in two games started by Darnold. The quarterback threw for 261 total yards, one touchdown and four interceptions. The Jets lost both of those games at MetLife Stadium.

The Jets will be lucky to score more than 17 points. The question is whether or not the Steelers can manufacture enough points without asking Hodges to do too much.

It’s something they’ve done several times this season, with either Hodges or Mason Rudolph under center. New York is ninth in total yards allowed and seventh in yards allowed per play. They are also banged up with nothing on the line.

The status of JuJu Smith-Schuster is still unknown. Pittsburgh could certainly use its No.1 receiver back on the field.

Mike Tomlin has found ways to put Hodges in positions to succeed. The quarterback has completed at least two-thirds of his passes in three of his four starts. Week 15 was his first multi-interception game.

The Steelers are 3-0-1 against the spread when they are favored over a team with a losing record.

Prediction: Pittsburgh over New York, 20-16