Cleveland Browns (-2.5) at Indianapolis Colts, Total 40 |
Cleveland is mainly a road favorite in this contest due to Indianapolis dropping a 34-7 road contest to the Houston Texans than its own defeat to the Cincinnati Bengals. The Browns fell to 0-1 on the season in losing a 27-17 home contest when favored by 6.5 points.
Second-year quarterback Colt McCoy was hard on himself after the loss, completing 19 of 40 passes for 213 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. There was plenty of blame to go around, especially when allowing a 41-yard touchdown pass when still holding a defensive huddle.
“We couldn’t get anything going,” McCoy stated. “We certainly had our opportunities to win.”
This will be the 26th regular season meeting between the two teams and Cleveland holds a 13-12 advantage. The franchise has dropped five straight in the series, but has covered the last two, including a 10-6 home loss as 4.5-point underdogs in 2008.
It’s going to be a strange experience come Sunday, as the team has not faced an Indianapolis squad without Peyton Manning being in the huddle since 1994.
NFL betting fans will find that the Browns are 5-8 ATS when the line is within a field goal on both sides, while also dropping seven consecutive games straight-up in September betting predictions.
Indianapolis is solely focused on moving its record to 1-1 after being handed one of the worst losses in over a decade. The Colts were out-gained by 148 yards in a 34-7 defeat to the Houston Texans as nine-point road underdogs.
Veteran quarterback Kerry Collins is moving on from the experience and has gained another week of experience in this offense, which will only help his performance improve. The team suffered two turnovers and had numerous penalties that killed drives.
“I felt, for the short time that I’ve been here, that I’ve been able to get on the same page with these guys,” Collins stated in practice this week. “We hurt ourselves a little bit with penalties and some other things.”
Collins finished his first start in a Colts uniform by completing 16 of 31 passes for 197 yards and a touchdown. He moved ahead of Dan Orlovsky and Curtis Painter on the depth chart the moment he was signed.
Defensively, all of the concern is placed on trying to stop the power rushing game that the Browns have in place with running back Peyton Hillis, who rushed for 1,177 yards and 11 touchdowns a season ago.
football betting players will find that the Colts are 5-1 ATS as a home underdog and the ‘under’ has cashed in the last four games in that situation.
