Colts vs. Broncos Best Bets for Thursday Night Football (Number Too Low Despite Two Inconsistent Offenses)

Week 5 feels a tad bit early for the "must-win" game scenario, but expect a sense of major urgency when the 1-3 Indianapolis Colts travel to Mile High to face the 2-2 Denver Broncos tonight.

The Colts were the consensus odds-on favorite to capture the AFC South this season, but have since been overtaken by the Jacksonville Jaguars to win; going from worst-to-first in the process.

Meanwhile, the Broncos are quite fortunate to be at 2-2 this year. Their two wins have been single possession victories at home to the winless Houston Texans in Week 2, while becoming the first team since 2016 to punt 10-plus times in a game and still win during their Week 3 in primetime victory vs. the San Francisco 49ers.

Need some last minute help with making decisions on what to wager on tonight? BetSided has you ready to go with betting picks, prop bets, anytime touchdowns, same game parlays and more for this evening.

Here are my favorite Thursday Night Football bets on the board.

Best Bets for Colts vs. Broncos on Thursday Night Football

• Colts vs. Broncos Over 42
• Courtland Sutton Longest Reception OVER 24.5 Yards
• Mo-Alie Cox Anytime Touchdown Scorer

Colts vs. Broncos Over 42

Our guy Donnavan Smoot likes the Broncos to cover the 3-points vs. a struggling Colts' team on the road tonight, but I'm going to focus on the total instead.

Despite each team putting out inconsistent offenses this season, I see both squads throwing a bunch with their respective top running backs out in Jonathan Taylor and Javonte Williams.

Sometimes, being off-balance is a good thing because bettors should see more downfield attempts, and likely more scoring with less of a conservative nature to churn up the clock.

Denver especially will look to go after the Colts' struggles through the air; ranked 27th out of 32 in Pass DVOA at Football Outsiders.

Courtland Sutton Longest Reception OVER 24.5 Yards

As BetSided's Joe Summers points out in his same-game-parlay picks, Sutton ranks seventh in yards (343) and 18th in targets (35); averaging 14.3 yards per catch. He also ranks sixth in air yards this season, so when Russ is looking to target him, more often than not it's for a big play.

In fact, last week vs. the Raiders was the lone week Sutton didn't hit the over on this prop.

The Colts have struggled in coverage through their first four games this season, and while I expect them to improve as the season progresses, now is as good a time as any to attack them through the air.

Mo-Alie Cox Anytime Touchdown Scorer

I really wanted to take newcomer Phillip Lindsay and walk down narrative street in a revenge game vs. his former team, but I don't think the odds provide much value.

Lindsay, despite not playing a down this season, is listed at +170 to find his way into the end zone against the Broncos tonight, while starting running back Nyheim Hines is just a tick own at +160.

As for Mo-Alie Cox, he's second behind only Michael Pittman on the team in red zone targets, and already has multiple touchdowns inside the red zone this year: two from inside the 20 and one inside the 10. He's been the team's most useful red zone target, so to offer him up at just under +500 odds feels ludicrous and hopefully lucrative as well.

For what it's worth, I also might look to back Donnavan's anytime touchdown pick of Michael Pittman as well.

Follow all of Ben's betting plays in real-time HERE!

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.