Indianapolis Colts at Houston Texans
Sunday, 12/16/12, 1:00 PM EST, TV: CBS
Opening Point Spread: Houston -8
Current Betting Line: Houston -10
Opening Total: 49
Current Total: 47.5
Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker
Indianapolis has won seven of its last eight games, including a 27-23 victory over the Tennessee Titans as 3.5-point home favorites, while going OVER the total for the third time in four weeks. “Everybody on the team, offensively, defensively, special teams—just plays football,” stated Colts rookie quarterback Andrew Luck. The first overall pick in the 2012 NFL draft will be heading back to the Houston Area, where he attended Stratford High School. Indianapolis is 0-2 ATS as a road underdog of 7.5 to 10 points this season, which can’t be ignored when making your NFL picks against the spread on Sunday.
The Colts will need to do a better job of protecting Luck against one of the better defensive fronts in football, as he’s been sacked 32 times on the year. He’s only 259 passing yards away from breaking Cam Newton’s NFL rookie record, but it’s important to that the former Stanford Cardinal star has a 66.6 passer rating on the road compared to 81.8 at home.
Houston had its six-game win streak snapped in a 42-14 blowout loss to the New England Patriots in last week’s Monday Night Football, while going OVER the total for the third time in four contests. “We’ve got issues,” stated Texans head coach Gary Kubiak after the game. The Texans will try to keep the Colts offense off the field by using running back Arian Foster, who has had 100-yard games in all three of his matchups with the Colts, rushing for a combined 491 yards and 6.9 per carry average. Houston is 3-7 ATS in December the last two-plus years.
The Texans haven’t run the ball effectively the last two weeks, averaging 3.7 yards per game at New England, while managing just 3.6 at Tennessee. Foster ranks sixth in the NFL with 1,1438 rushing yards, but is averaging a career-low 3.9 yards per carry. Houston needs quarterback Matt Schaub to deliver a big performance, as he’s 25-12 overall at Reliant Stadium with a passer rating of 94.5.
Sports bettors will likely back the Texans due to their 17-5 ATS mark at home versus teams with a winning road record, while the road team is 0-4 ATS in the last four meetings in this series.
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