The Indianapolis Colts are opening their home slate of the 2015 National Football League regular season on Monday Night Football against the New York Jets. Indianapolis was considered the odds-on favorite to emerge out of the AFC come January, but it looked awful in a 27-14 loss to the Buffalo Bills in Week 1. This week, BOVADA believes the Colts are going to get right, favoring them by seven points over the visiting Jets. The over/under is set at 45.5.
Indianapolis is clearly the better team, but it has plenty of holes across the defense and offensive line. The Colts are without three of their top corners with Greg Toler, Darius Butler and D’joun Smith all out with various injuries. While top cornerback Vontae Davis is still on the field, he can only guard either Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker. The other Jets receiver will be getting something akin to a free run, giving Ryan Fitzpatrick a viable threat who should be open throughout the evening.
As for the trends, Indianapolis has been nothing short of dominant at Lucas Oil Stadium. The Colts are 10-2-1 in their last 13 games at home against the spread and was 7-1 straight up in Indianapolis last season, per OddsShark. Meanwhile, the Jets have been anything but successful on the road in recent seasons. The Jets are 4-7-2 ATS away from the Meadowlands but are 5-1 in their last six games overall ATS. Perhaps the way to bet is the UNDER. The Colts have seen their last five contests go UNDER while the Jets’ scores have gone UNDER in six of their last nine contests.
New York looked dominant in its Week 1 win over the Cleveland Browns. The Jets fell behind 7-0 before roaring back, toppling an overmatched Browns team. On Monday, New York will have a much stiffer challenge in primetime.