Sunday Night Football – Colts To Squeak By For Second Consecutive Week
The Indianapolis Colts are on a short week after barely getting by the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football. The Colts were badly outplayed but as has been the case in recent years for Indy, they make the plays when it counts.
Few teams execute better than Indianapolis and that should again be the name of the game this week in Arizona. Don’t underestimate this betting line, though. The Colts are accurately depicted as underdogs.
Time: 8:20 ET
Venue: Phoenix Stadium
Colts vs. Cards Sunday Night Football Lines
MoneyLine: Colts +120 / Cardinals -140 -150
Spread: Cardinals -2.5
Over/Under: 48.5
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As mentioned, it’s a short week of preparation, its back-to-back road contests for Indianapolis and this is a West Coast trip.
Even so, the Colts thrive in primetime and they’ll show it once more on Sunday Night Football.
Colts offense vs Cardinals defense
The Colts are on a 11-game regular season winning streak and they’ve now won 61 of their last 75 regular season games. Beyond that, their .737 road winning percentage since 2002 is tied with New England for the best in the league over that span.
That last stat will be key as Peyton Manning makes his first start ever at the University of Phoenix Stadium.
The Colts will come in with a different game plan this week as they’ll try to hold on the ball and play keep away from the Cardinals offense. Considering how poor the Colts running game has been this season, it’s unlikely that that will work.
Instead, the Colts will have to do it the only fashioned way: outscore their opponents. The good news is that the Cardinals don’t have too much of a pass rush and Manning should be fairly upright all day long.
Cardinals offense vs Colts defense
The Cardinals better protect Kurt Warner in this contest or this could be a very one-sided affair.
The Cardinals offense is every bit as explosive as the Colts but the difference in this game is that the Colts have two dangerous end rushers while the Cardinals simply don’t have those type of weapons.
If the Cardinals can contain Dwight Freeney’s speed rushing, they should be able to abuse a defense that spent a lot of time on the field in the Monday Nighter.
The Cardinals will probably try to get their running game going after watching the Dolphins pile up over 200 rushing yards but they should also look to the outside to abuse the Colts smaller cornerbacks.
Outlook & Pick:
Cardinals star wideout Larry Fitzgerald has yet to find the end zone this season but that will change in this contest. There will be plenty of scoring to go around and he’ll be an impact player in this contest.
But at the end of the day, when it comes to execution, there is no comparison between these two teams. The Colts are the model of it while the Cardinals struggle to find the consistency to do it.
On top of that, the Cardinals tackles, Mike Gandy and Levi Brown, are going to have problems with Robert Mathis and Freeney.
This will be a tight, high-scoring contest but look for the Colts to pull out another close one.
Pick: Colts +3
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Dave Golokhov has written for BETUS Sportsbook, Sportsfanmagazine.com, FOX, Askmen.com, Sports-central.org, and the FOXSports.com Funhouse.
