The Indianapolis Colts (+200 to win the AFC West) are on a roll, with two straight wins heading into Week 4 of the 2019 NFL season. They are in a great position to bag another win this weekend, with the struggling Oakland Raiders (+1500 to win the AFC West) coming to town. Will the Colts make it three in a row? Or will the Raiders spoil the Colts’ party?
The Week 1 win over the Denver Broncos feel like so long ago for the Raiders, who have lost back-to-back games since. In their last outing, the Raiders got crushed by the Minnesota Vikings on the road, 34-14. Nothing seemed to click for Oakland. Derek Carr passed for 242 passing yards with two touchdowns and an interception, and got sacked four times for a loss of 28 yards. The Raiders need to give Carr better protection — and also better blocking for running Josh Jacobs, who rushed for just 44 yard on 10 carries. As a team, the Raiders only had 88 rushing yards on 20 attempts. That’s not bad when talking about efficiency, and they could have more success against Indianapolis’ defense that allows 5.9 rushing yards per carry — fourth most in the NFL.
The over is 4-1 in their last five road games.
Betting on the Indianapolis Colts (2-1)
Jacoby Brissett is doing all he can to help the Colts move on from Andrew Luck’s retirement, and so far, he’s having a fantastic job. Brissett completed 16 straight passes to start the game last weekend against the Atlanta Falcons and finished with 310 passing yards and two touchdowns with no inteceptions on 28 of 27 completions. The Colts may have lost Luck, but the offensive line that was so good in pass protection is still in Indianapolis, as evidenced by the fact that team has allowed just six sacks on the season, and only one against the Falcons. Indianapolis’ o-line should be able to handle Oakland’s pass rush that wasn’t able to take Kirk Cousins down last Sunday.
The Colts are 3-2 against the spread (ATS) in their last five games. The total also hit the over in three of those contests.
