Will the Houston Texans win the game against the Indianapolis Colts in week 17?

Another great matchup of two AFC South teams. The Division Champions Houston Texans meet the 2nd place team Indianapolis Colts.

The Texans at 10 and 5 travel to Indianapolis for their final regular season game with the 9 and 5 Colts. Each of these teams has clinched their playoff berth. Houston finds themselves in a must win position in order to help them hold on to the first round bye. They could lose that #1 seed spot if they lose and New England as well as Denver wins.

There are also a few other scenarios in which the Texans could drop at least one seed spot, but each one will only take place with a Houston loss. The Colts will hold on to a wild card spot win or lose, but what is to be determined is which teams will meet in what positions based upon the outcomes of the final games.

These two met in a game just two weeks ago. Houston won that game with a score of 29 to 17. Houston quarterback Matt Schaub threw for 261 yards and Adrian Foster ran for 165 yards. Having played each other recently, it should come as no surprise that the sports books have picked the Texans as favorites to win this game also.

What is the point spread on this game and will Houston be able to cover?

Let’s take a closer look at the rankings of their offenses and defenses based upon how well they played this season.

The rank of the Indianapolis offense overall is 9th with their passing game ranked 7th and their ground game ranked 22nd. Houston on the other hand has an overall offense rank of 8th with their passing game ranked 15th and their running game ranked 7th.

These ranks match them up fairly evenly with the Colts being a little stronger in their passing game and the Texans having a little stronger ground game.

When we look closer at the defenses we see a similar match in rankings against offensive strengths. On the defensive side of the football the Colts are ranked 26th overall and the Texans are ranked 9th.

The key with this game will be the disparity between where the teams are strong on offense and how well their opponents can defend against that strength. Since the Colts are stronger with their air game, they will be going up against a Texan defense that is ranked 15th against the pass.

And since the Texans strength is in their running game they will be contending with a Colt defense that is ranked 30th defending the run.

Obviously it’s not only about their ranks, but how well they actually play in real world scenarios against their opponents and the plays they run. If we look at their game from a few weeks ago we see that the Texan quarterback Shaub completed 23 for 31, 74% of his passing attempts and one touchdown and Foster scored 2 touchdowns on the ground.

Looking at the odds on this game on Tuesday evening I see the line has the Texans as 7 point favorites. If Houston can play close to the level they did in their previous game I see no reason why they shouldn’t cover that spread, although I do expect this game has the potential to be a close one.

No matter how much we look at the numbers, keep in mind that the Colts will have spent a good bit of time studying replays from their previous game and will do their best not to make the same kinds of mistakes that cost them the game before.

When placing a bet on this game or any others, be sure to only make wagers which you can afford to lose if the outcome is not what you expected. Also be sure to bet only at known trusted sportsbooks. One bookie we recommend is Bet Online.