Jets vs. Falcons injury report, NFL odds, spread: Calvin Ridley ruled out; terrible London matchup trend continues

Great news for NFL bettors and fans this Sunday as it's the first London game of the season, which means a 9:30 a.m. ET kickoff. Nothing beats morning football! The bad news: It's the 1-3 New York Jets vs. the 1-3 Atlanta Falcons. Top Atlanta receiver Calvin Ridley has been ruled out after he wasn't seen at practice Thursday before the team flies over the pond. The Falcons are 3-point favorites at Caesars Sportsbook as a very unusual London trend continues.

This will be the 29th all-time NFL game in London. Would you believe there has never been a matchup of two winning teams? Not exactly a way to build the game in the United Kingdom and that trend will continue next Sunday with the Miami Dolphins (currently 1-3) facing the Jacksonville Jaguars (0-4).

The Jags play in London every year nowadays, so they are partly to blame for the fact there has never been a winning matchup as they usually aren't very good. Jacksonville was 4-4 when it played there last in 2019 against 5-3 Houston.

There have been a few instances of a .500 team facing a team with a winning record and overall 20 games have had one team with a winning record or a .500 record. Thus, Sunday will be the 10th where both teams had losing records. The worst matchup was in 2013 when both the Steelers and Vikings were 0-3.

As of this writing, it's not clear what is going on with Ridley, who leads the team with 27 catches and 255 yards to go with one TD. In last Sunday's loss to Washington, Ridley was targeted 13 times but had "only" seven catches. He went 1-for-5 on contested catches. Ridley had a breakout All-Pro season in 2020 but also had Julio Jones (now with Titans) around to help deflection attention. 

The Falcons are simply saying that Ridley is dealing with a personal issue. That's bad news for Matt Ryan because No. 2 wideout Russell Gage will miss a third straight game due to injury. Atlanta won't be favored very often this season and is 1-5 against the spread and SU dating to last year (0-1 on both in 2021) as one.

The Jets upset the Titans for the first win of the Robert Saleh/Zach Wilson era last Sunday and Wilson will get a potential big target back Sunday in rookie wideout Elijah Moore. The former Ole Miss star missed Week 4 in the concussion protocol but has been cleared -- he started the first three games of the season with Jamison Crowder out. Crowder is back now, so Moore may move to the bench. He was very impressive in camp/preseason but has been held to eight catches for 66 yards and no TDs in three games that count.

Courtesy of Pro Football Talk -- team records in all London games:

2007: Giants (5-2) vs. Dolphins (0-7)
2008: Chargers (3-4) vs. Saints (3-4)
2009: Patriots (4-2) vs. Buccaneers (0-6)
2010: Broncos (2-5) vs. 49ers (1-6)
2011: Bears (3-3) vs. Buccaneers (4-2)
2012: Patriots (4-3) vs. Rams (3-4)
2013: Steelers (0-3) vs. Vikings (0-3)
2013: 49ers (5-2) vs. Jaguars (0-7)
2014: Dolphins (1-2) vs. Raiders (0-3)
2014: Lions (5-2) vs. Falcons (2-5)
2014: Cowboys (6-3) vs. Jaguars (1-8)
2015: Jets (2-1) vs. Dolphins (1-2)
2015: Bills (3-3) vs. Jaguars (1-5)
2015: Lions (1-6) vs. Chiefs (2-5)
2016: Colts (1-2) vs. Jaguars (0-3)
2016: Giants (3-3) vs. Rams (3-3)
2016: Washington (4-3) vs. Bengals (3-4)
2017: Jaguars (1-1) vs. Ravens (2-0)
2017: Saints (1-2) vs. Dolphins (1-1)
2017: Cardinals (3-3) vs. Rams (4-2)
2017: Vikings (5-2) vs. Browns (0-7)
2018: Seahawks (2-3) vs. Raiders (1-4)
2018: Titans (3-3) vs. Chargers (4-2)
2018: Jaguars (3-4) vs. Eagles (3-4)
2019: Raiders (2-2) vs. Bears (3-1)
2019: Buccaneers (2-3) vs. Panthers (3-2)
2019: Bengals (0-7) vs. Rams (4-3)
2019: Texans (5-3) vs. Jaguars (4-4)
2021: Jets (1-3) vs. Falcons (1-3)
2021: Dolphins (currently 1-3) vs. Jaguars (currently 0-4)

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