Indianapolis Colts at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-10), Total 40.5 |
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Indianapolis has played much better football the past two weeks, but will enter this week’s Monday Night Football contest with an 0-3 record. The Colts have been out-gained in all three games this year and it’s likely that quarterback Peyton Manning will be out the entire year.
The Colts will be looking to avoid going 0-4 for the first time since 2008 and have won their last two appearances on the prime-time event. “I think we’ve been improving a little bit,” commented Colts head coach Jim Caldwell. The team is still 28th in scoring offense and 27th in passing yards.
On the other side of the ball, the team has to be pleased with its effort against the Steelers running game last week, limiting Rashard Mendenhall to 2.1 yards a carry last Sunday night.
Problem is, a lot of teams suffer greatly the following week after playing the Steelers, as the physicality of that contest lingers. They will also be facing a big back in Buccaneers second-year player LeGarrette Blount.
The Colts are 9-2 all-time on Monday Night and will need wide receiver Reggie Wayne to perform at a high level in hopes of pulling off an upset. He has just 14 catches for 196 yards and a touchdown this season.
sportsbook bettors will find that the Colts are 5-10 ATS as a road underdog of 7.5 to 10 points, while the ‘over’ is 12-3 in those contests.
Tampa Bay only has one remaining player that played in its last Monday Night contest, as cornerback Ronde Barber will be responsible for telling the locker room what to expect. “We’ve been tolling down here in Tampa for a long time, unrecognized,” commented Barber. “That’s the only game in town that night, everybody’s watching.”
Quarterback Josh Freeman is in his third season with the franchise, coming off a season that saw him pass for 3,451 yards and 25 touchdowns.
He will be relying on his offensive line to protect him from Colts defensive ends Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis, who have tallied 37 and 34 sacks over the last 48 games respectively.
Freeman is seventh in the NFL with a 67.9 completion percentage this year, while throwing for 227.3 passing yards a game. His main target continues to be Mike Williams, who has 10 catches for 89 yards.
These two franchises have not met since 2007, while also only playing two times since the 2003 campaign.
NFL betting players will find that the Buccaneers are 5-16 ATS at home and the ‘over’ is 4-1-1 in the last six games in that situation.
