Minnesota at New York

The Minnesota Vikings don't look at all like the team that went to the NFC Championship last season. Brett Favre looks old and tired and unmotivated. On top of it, his focus on football is going to be tough with the negative reports and allegations surrounding Jen Sterger and others in the latest sports sex scandal. The league is investigating and Favre faces a possible suspension if allegations prove to be true. The lack of Sydney Rice has really hurt Favre has he has had no one to stretch the field. In comes Randy Moss who should provide that deep threat once again. But, will Favre and Moss be on the same page in game one? The Jets have been all about defense since the arrival of Rex Ryan. They were forced to win low-scoring games to keep Sanchez from handing games away. Their defense has been its usual self, allowing just 15.3 points per game. Only one team has gotten more than 14. And now they get Darelle Revis and Calvin Pace back. The difference in the Jets this year is the maturation of Mark Sanchez. Sanchez has yet to throw an interception this season to go with his eight TD passes. The Jets have scored an average of 31 points per game in their last three. They rank 4th in the league in scoring while Minnesota, averaging 14.3 points per game, is second to last (only ahead of the Carolina Panthers). Sanchez has not made the bonehead mistakes of a rookie and now he adds another weapon as Santonio Holmes is back from suspension. If that isn't enough, LaDanaian Tomlinson has discovered the fountain of youth and looks like the back we saw three years ago. The quickness is back and as a result, he is averaging over 6 yards per carry. The Jets’ OL hasn’t allowed a sack in the last two games. The Jets, once a defensive-only team, are now finding weapons on offense and have that "Super" look to them early on. When the Vikings have taken to the road after a home game under Brad Childress, they are just 5-15 straight-up. Under Rex Ryan, the Jets are 9-3 straight-up after a game in which they allowed 14 or fewer points. The public is pretty split on this game with 55% on the Vikings and they are favoring the OVER. My computer prediction (not an official pick) likes the Vikings to cover the spread, losing 22-18. The computer is basically saying this 4.5 points spread is right. I lean a bit towards the Jets covering it but it isn't worth a pick in my opinion. While the Jets have a decent chance of convering this spread, they could easily win a closer game in the 20-17 range. I think the value here lies on the Jets to win this game outright as I believe they find a way to do that, even if it remains close. So, I'm on the Jets moneyline tonight.