The Indianapolis Colts are meeting a familiar face in a must win game in week seventeen. If the game against the 49ers wasn’t brutal enough for the defense, this one might be worse as the Jaguars are rolling into town red-hot. This is an absolute must win for the Colts. A win this week, coupled with a loss by the Texans, leaves them in a week eighteen showdown. Lose and the season is over. FanDuel Sportsbook is laying the Colts as sizeable underdogs with a +6.5-spread.
The money line starts at +265
while the over/under comes in at 47.5.
Philip Rivers looked the part on Monday night, leading his team on two touchdown drives to start the game. He came out firing and looked completely different than he did against the Seahawks. Balls were flying downfield and he was putting it on his receivers. The Colts had 19 first downs but were hurt by a few penalties that killed drives. Putting up 27-points will win some games in the NFL; giving up 48 will lose you all of them. The defense couldn’t have been worse. That is a literal statement. The only time they got off the field is when the 49ers missed a 64-yard field goal, but even then, they allowed them a crack at it with 17 seconds on the clock. The poor end of half execution was exactly what they did against the Seahawks. Tack on five touchdowns and it quickly became a blowout loss.
The Jaguars just keep getting better. They are quickly entering the conversation of Super Bowl hopeful, especially after they laid the smackdown on the Broncos in Denver. After falling behind 7-10, the Jaguars went on a run in the second half fueled by a strong third quarter. Trevor Lawrence had four touchdowns and is looking like the franchise quarterback the Jaguars have been waiting on to fully come into his own. Putting up 34-points on the Broncos’ defense on the road is no easy task. Week in and week out, the Jaguars are making this type of performance routine.
The Colts are running into buzzsaw. If the defense doesn’t get things figured out, it will be another track meet in which the Colts will have no chance. Philip Rivers demonstrated he can put points on the board, but he can’t hang a 50-spot. The Jaguars have momentum and are eyeing moving up in the AFC standings. The Colts will do all they can to hang on.
