Indianapolis Colts @ Houston Texans, NFL Preview

Thursday Night Football Bet

THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL KICKS-OFF AT 1.20AM (Friday UK time)

Game Spread – Houston Texans – 3.5 | Game Total – 45 points

NFL Week 12 kicks-off with a divisional game in the AFC South as the 6-4 Indianapolis Colts go to the 6-4 Houston Texans.

This game has huge divisional implications with the Colts currently holding the tiebreaker and leading the division..

Key Stats

Houston strong as favourites – The Texans have a great record as favourites winning 12 of 15 games plus they are solid at home winning 3/4 this season.
Under the total favoured – The last 7 games between the sides average 43 points with 5/7 going under. This is further cemented by the total going under in 12 of Indy’s 18 road games. Similar can be said for Houston at home with 7 of 8 going under.

How with the Colts cope with big injuries?

Indianapolis has a few injuries building up now with TY Hilton missing for a few weeks hitting the pass offence hard but the bigger loss will be Marlon Mack who broke his hand vs the Jaguars on Sunday. He put up 109 yards and a touchdown before the injury. Mack accounts for 25% of their offence so it could be huge considering the Colts have the worst road pass offence, which averaged just 159 yards through the air on the road.

The offence will have to play a perfect game and rely on the defence causing Watson problems to win this.

Can the Texans protect Watson?

The Colts will be happy to see how easily the Ravens got to Watson on Sunday in the blowout win/ They hit him 10 times recording 7 sacks. The Colts pass rush probably won’t have as much joy as they are only averaging 2.5 sacks per game. However the defence did show promise keeping the Jags out the redzone Sunday which the Ravens also did to the Texans.

Thursday night football verdict and bet

With home advantage I fancy Houston to get the crucial win with the Colts lacking defensive option, Watson should get more time than he did in the blowout loss Sunday and before that they have won 5/6.

With the Colts struggling on offence especially on the road and Houston struggling with their offensive line I will be siding with the stats and taking the double with the under.

Indianapolis Colts @ Houston Texans (Double)

Houston Texans to win

Under 45 points

Pays 1.9/1 with Bet365