Christmas Eve is historically one of the slowest sports betting days of the year.  We’ve got a bowl game (the Hawaii Bowl) and we’ll take a look at that later tonight.  Besides that, its slim pickings so we’ll go ahead and look toward the weekend NFL action.  The Jacksonville Jaguars will take on the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts this Sunday:

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS AT NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS:

The Patriots have dominated the series SU, but Jacksonville has held their own in the ATS matchups.  New England beat Jacksonville last January, but failed to cover as -13′ favorites.  New England is assured of a playoff spot, but Jacksonville is still fighting for their own postseason as one of a half dozen 7-7 teams in the NFL.  The Jaguars gave the Indianapolis Colts all they could handle last week, and that Thursday game gives them extra time to prepare for this contest.

The biggest factor in this game is the depleted state of the New England offensive line.  Vince Wilfork, Ty Warren and Myron Pryor all missed last week’s game at Buffalo.  Warren and Wilfork have been upgraded to ‘probable’ for Sunday’s action, but they’ll have their hands full trying to stop the Jacksonville running game.  In particular, they’ll struggle to stop Jags’ running back Marcus Jones-Drew who is becoming one of the elite rushers in the game.  The Pats’ defense isn’t as good as in years past, their injury problems notwithstanding.

Jacksonville’s defense is no great shakes either, particularly against the pass.  Tom Brady should be able to move the ball effectively, but we think that Jacksonville will be able to leverage their running game and match points with the Patriots all afternoon and possibly steal the outright win.  At this price, even a competitive effort cashes our ticket.

BET JACKSONVILLE +7′ OVER NEW ENGLAND