NFL Betting Week 16: Texans vs. Colts Odds

Thursday, December 22

The Houston Texans visit Indianapolis Colts on Thursday at Lucas Oil Stadium.

As expected, the Texans spent a little bit too much time partying after their playoff-clinching win in Cincinnati two Sundays ago.

The feeling here is that if Gary Kubiak’s crew hoped to make a deep post-season run, they would need home field advantage or, at the very least, a first-round bye.

With last week’s home upset loss to Carolina, it now looks like they may get neither.

The knee-jerk reaction would be to jump back on board – especially with the ‘double inside-out’ set-up taking place tonight in Indy (Texans outgained the Panthers in their loss; the Colts were outstatted 101 yards by the Titans in their win).

However, it looks like a nasty series history (3-16 SU, including 0-9 SU away) will force us to the sidelines. Our betting sports news (BSN Sports) database also has some mixed feeling about the Colts.

While they are 8-1 SU and 7-1-1 ATS all-time on Thursdays, they are also 1-8 ATS in Last Home Games… though most of that is a result of the Colts laying down and resting regulars with the playoffs around the corner and nothing on the line. Not this year.

However, we’re really in no hurry to back a herd of Colts off their maiden win of the season as teams that start the year 0-10 or worse are just 3-11 SU and 5-9 ATS in games off their initial win.

We won’t be turning to the NFL Network tonight as we have tickets to the Blue Man Group on ESPN.

Sportsbooks currently have the Texans listed as 6½-point favorites against the Colts, and the game's total is sitting at 40½.

Houston Texans vs. Indianapolis Colts trends to consider:

Houston is 7-1 SU in its last 8 games
Houston is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 10 of Houston's last 13 games when playing Indianapolis
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Houston's last 8 games when playing on the road against Indianapolis
Indianapolis is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Houston
Indianapolis is 16-3 SU in its last 19 games when playing Houston
The total has gone OVER in 10 of Indianapolis's last 13 games when playing Houston
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Indianapolis's last 8 games when playing at home against Houston