The Indianapolis Colts square off against division rival Jacksonville on Thursday night as a 3 point road favorite. The Colts are 6-0 SU and ATS on the road this year and are 13-0 SU for the season, the currently own the all time regular season win streak at 22 games set this last weekend with a win against the Jaguars and their first year Coach has already stated that all healthy starters will play in this game. It would seem a little too early to start resting your team in week 14 considering the Colts won't play their first playoff game for almost 5 weeks and we all know that Manning really runs this team so what is his motivation towards going undefeated for the season or continuing to put up MVP numbers, completing 68.1 percent of his passes for 3,905 yards with a 29/14 touchdown-interception ratio. While we are giving kudos to Manning let's also remember that this may be the best Colt's defense that we have seen in the Manning era and it is the defense that has keyed so many victories for the Colts this year. When these teams met on September 13 in Indianapolis, the Colts collected a 14-12 win but the Jags covered as 6 ½-point road underdogs. The Colts have won and covered the last two meetings in Jacksonville and 3 of the last 4 in Florida have gone to the visiting Colts. All the stats, trends and momentum seem to be with the Colts yet the line maker has only hung a 3 up there for the Colts are they trying to outsmart us or do they know something that we don't?
Jacksonville (7-6 SU, 5-8 ATS) would be in the playoffs if the season ended today, Jack Del Rio’s team currently owns the tiebreaker over three other AFC teams the Jets, Dolphins and Ravens for the final slot in the AFC playoffs. Jacksonville has been a home underdog twice this season, winning outright over Tennessee and Houston in compiling a 5-2 SU home record. Coach Del Rio has done a fine job rebuilding this team while keeping them in playoff contention they are led on offense by their fine running back Jones-Drew who has rushed for 1,136 yards and 14 touchdowns, averaging 4.5 yards per carry. He also has 44 catches for 303 yards while getting solid quarterback play from David Garrard who has connected on 60.7 percent of his attempts for 2,987 yards with a 10/6 TD-INT ratio. The short week would seem to favor the home team since they don't have to travel but that may be negated by the fact that these division rivals play twice a year and know each other very well. You would have to consider this a must win for the Jaguars in order to maintain their edge in the tie breaking scenarios, add in that the crowd should be extremely loud in an effort to disrupt the Colts offense.
Maybe I am avoiding the obvious and trying to look to much into this contest, most of the factors point to a Colts victory but the one thing that sticks out on this low line is the public is all over the Colts at close to a 4:1 ratio Vegas doesn't like to give money away so my gut says take the Jaguars and look for the outright upset.
Jacksonville (7-6 SU, 5-8 ATS) would be in the playoffs if the season ended today, Jack Del Rio’s team currently owns the tiebreaker over three other AFC teams the Jets, Dolphins and Ravens for the final slot in the AFC playoffs. Jacksonville has been a home underdog twice this season, winning outright over Tennessee and Houston in compiling a 5-2 SU home record. Coach Del Rio has done a fine job rebuilding this team while keeping them in playoff contention they are led on offense by their fine running back Jones-Drew who has rushed for 1,136 yards and 14 touchdowns, averaging 4.5 yards per carry. He also has 44 catches for 303 yards while getting solid quarterback play from David Garrard who has connected on 60.7 percent of his attempts for 2,987 yards with a 10/6 TD-INT ratio. The short week would seem to favor the home team since they don't have to travel but that may be negated by the fact that these division rivals play twice a year and know each other very well. You would have to consider this a must win for the Jaguars in order to maintain their edge in the tie breaking scenarios, add in that the crowd should be extremely loud in an effort to disrupt the Colts offense.
Maybe I am avoiding the obvious and trying to look to much into this contest, most of the factors point to a Colts victory but the one thing that sticks out on this low line is the public is all over the Colts at close to a 4:1 ratio Vegas doesn't like to give money away so my gut says take the Jaguars and look for the outright upset.
