Indianapolis Colts at Oakland Raiders Betting Preview
Opening Line: Colts -3
Total Odds: 47.5
Time: 4:05 PM EST Sunday December 26, 2010 on CBS
The Colts (8-6) beat the Jaguars last week and they are tied with them for the lead in the AFC South. If Indianapolis can win out they will win the division. The Raiders are at 7-7 and still alive in the playoff race, but they need to win their last 2 games and get some help from the Chargers and Chiefs. This season the Raiders are a solid 5-2 at home and have one of the best rushing offenses in the league, which is not good for the Colts, who have one of the worst run defenses.
In their last games the Raiders beat the Denver Broncos 39-23 and the Colts beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 34-24.
This season both teams have been decent betting ones with the Raiders at 8-6 ATS and the Colts at 7-6-1 ATS. Indianapolis has only covered the spread one time in their last 5 games against Oakland.
Peyton Manning leads the NFL in passing yards and in the win over the Jags he had a good game with 294 yards with 2 TD and 1 INT. He will be facing the strength of the Oakland defense, which is their pass D ranking 5th in the league. Manning has had to carry the Colts this season since their rushing offense ranks dead last in the league. However, last week the Colts rushed for 155 yards with Donald Brown galloping for 129 yards with 1 TD. If he can help Manning out again it will take a lot of pressure off the 4-time MVP. There is a good chance of that happening since the Raiders have struggled all season to defend the run ranking 26th in the league.
Oakland QB Jason Campbell has had an up and down season in his first one in a Raiders’ uniform and last week he passed for 238 yards with 1 TD and 2 INT and he also rushed for 41 yards. The Colts’ pass D ranks a respectable 11th in the league, but they gave up 289 passing yards last week.
The guy Indianapolis really has to worry about is RB Darren McFadden, who has over 1,100 rushing yards on the season and ran for 119 yards averaging 6 yards per carry last week. The Colts’ rushing D has struggled all season, but last week held Maurice Jones-Drew, who is the 2nd leading rusher in the league, to only 46 yards.
In some other betting trends for this AFC game :
Indianapolis is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games as a favorite, 1-3-1 ATS in their last 5 games as a road favorite, and has an Over record of 4-0-1 in their last 5 games.
Oakland is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 home games, 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games as an underdog, and has an Over record of 5-1 in their last 6 home games.
Our Selection :The Colts are 0-6 SU in games when they have allowed over 120 yards rushing which is something the Raiders have accomplished in 8 of their 14 games. In the 6 games that they didn't rush for more than 120 yards they were facing the number 1,2,3,5,9 and 16th ranked teams in rushing yards allowed per carry. Indianapolis is ranked 30th in the league! Take Oakland +3 5Dimes.com.