Houston Texans Look to Stay Alive in AFC South Race Against the Indianapolis Colts
By Charles Jay
Right now the Houston Texans trail the Indianapolis Colts by two games in the AFC South. So if they want any hope for the division title, Sunday’s meeting represents a do or die situation. This is a chance to make up some ground and close the gap to one game, or, with a loss, the Texans will face a virtual elimination from the playoff race. Having won three out of their last four games, they like to think they’re taking some momentum into NFL betting action that begins at 1 PM ET at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
These teams met in the sixth game of the season, with Indianapolis getting off to a 24-0 lead and then fighting off a charge from Houston to register a 33-28 victory. In that contest, Andrew Luck threw for 363 yards, 223 of them to his ace receiver, TY Hilton, while Arian Foster had 123 yards on the ground for the Texans.
Houston is currently 7-6 straight-up (8-5 ATS), and they are among a number of teams that still have some wild-card hope. Indianapolis is 9-4 both straight-up and against the football pointspread.
Football Betting Lines – Texans vs Colts
In the Football betting lines at Pinnacle, the Colts are the solid favorites:
Point Spread: Indianapolis Colts -7 2.080, Houston Texans +7 1.840
Money Line: Colts 1.357, Texans 3.480
Over/Under 49 points
Luck brings an explosiveness to the quarterback position that few others can match. He has 4305 yards on the season, along with 36 touchdown passes. He has helped make a star out of Hilton, who has 1295 yards thus far on the season and 611 yards in five career games against Houston. Last week, Luck engineered another of those fourth-quarter comebacks that he has become known for, bringing the Colts down the field on the final drive to beat Cleveland 25-24, in a game where Indianapolis had been down by two touchdowns.
Pinnacle customers who check their history will find that the Houston franchise has lost all 12 times it has played in Indianapolis. But people Iike JJ Watt don’t really care all that much about history. Watt has 14 sacks this season, and many of his teammates, not to mention media members and NFL bettors, are touting him as a possible MVP candidate. He has also scored 30 points this season on five touchdowns, and if you want to put that into some kind of perspective, it is five touchdowns more than the entire group of Kansas City Chiefs’ wide receivers has tallied.
It is clear that Houston, which has a so-so quarterback in Ryan Fitzpatrick, must move the ball effectively on the ground. Foster is one of the game’s best when healthy, and he averages five yards per carry. This week the Texans go up against an Indianapolis defense that has been extremely solid in third-down situations, allowing the opponent to convert only 33% of the time. One big positive in the Houston offense this season is the progress of second-year man DeAndre Hopkins at wide receiver. Hopkins has averaged 17 yards a catch, picking up a lot of the slack as veteran (and possible future Hall of Famer) Andre Johnson starts to fade a little.
