Indianapolis Colts at Detroit Lions
Time: NOON (EST)
Spread: IND -2.5
Total: 49.5
Odds ? 5dimes
The Indianapolis Colts improved to 4-2 with its 31-27 win over the Cincinnati Bengals last week. This week it returns home to host the Detroit Lions as 2.5-point favorites. The over/under is set at 49.5 total points according to NFL oddsmakers at 5dimes. The game will air at Noon (Est) on CBS and CBS affiliates.
IND
Last week, in its defeat of the Cincinnati Bengals, quarterback Philip Rivers threw 29 of 44 for 371 yards and three touchdowns. Rivers did throw an interception and get sacked once, but he finished with a high passer rating of 105.4 on the outing. The Colts struggled on the ground game in the win, with just 3.9 yards per carry on the 15 attempts. Jonathan Taylor rushed for 60 yards but he received no help from his teammates, and the Colts finished with just 59 rushing yards. But Rivers was on, as he found four receivers for four catches or more, paced by Marcus Johnson’s 108 yards on five catches. Trey Burton, Zach Pascal, and Jack Doyle all caught TD passes.
Rivers has put together a decent season thus far if not for his miscues. He has thrown seven TD passes but nearly matched it with six picks. He has a passer rating of 93.0. The top handoff option has been Taylor. He has 367 yards and no other backfield options have more than 100 yards even. Taylor is carrying this offense. The top receiver has been TY Hilton with his 20 catches for 242 yards. He has amazingly not caught a TD pass, but Hilton leads the team in first downs (13) and has been a big playmaker all year – he averaged 40.3 yards per catch.
DET
The Detroit Lions are 3-3 and in third place in the NFC North. The Lions enter this week hot, as winners of its last two. It defeated Jacksonville and Atlanta by a combined total of 66 to 38. The Lions still do not rank high in team statistical categories. The offense is middle of the pack at 26 points per game, while the defense is just decent enough to keep the Lions in games. The last two weeks it has been exceptional, though. In last week’s victory, it limited Todd Gurley to just 2.7 yards per carry on his 23 attempts. Additionally, it sacked Falcons’s QB Matt Ryan twice for 16 yards lost. Jayron Kearse, Darryl Robers and Jamie Collins Sr. all had six tackles or more.
Stafford has been his usual self this season. He has already racked up 1,580 yards on 126 of 204 (62.3 percent) passing. Stafford has 10 TD throws and four picks, and he has been sacked an average of 2.3 times per game. Adrian Peterson is still a workhorse out of the backfield too. He has a team-leading 314 yards and two touchdowns.
No. 2 running back D’Andre Swift leads the team in touchdowns with four. The top-four receiving options all have 200 yards or more and at least 15 receptions. Kenny Golloday leads in total yards with 338, and he has two touchdowns. The other has come from the hands of TJ Hockenson who has four TD catches from the tight end position. He averages 11.6 yards per catch, but he also ties the team lead (with Golloday).
The Lions have all the pieces of a formidable offense with Peterson still having plenty left in his legs and two receivers with soft hands to vary up the playcalling. Ironically it has hardly mattered, and the Lions rank No. 20 in pass offense and No. 20 in rush offense. Overall, their work is all but cut out for them. The last two victories were doubtlessly nice but the team is 0-2 at home and that hardly inspires any faith from the fanbase that Detroit could make a postseason run.
