The San Diego Chargers look like they're making another of their late-season runs. Meanwhile, the Indianapolis Colts, who have won at least 12 games for seven seasons in a row, seem vulnerable. That's the situation as these two AFC powers get ready to meet at Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday Night Football (8:20 pm Eastern, NBC).
BetJamaica.com opened this game with Indy favored by three points, and the total set at 51.5. And as of Friday morning both those numbers remained the same.
The Chargers got off to another one of their slow starts this season, losing five of their first seven games. But they're recovered to win three games in a row, most recently rocking Denver on Monday night 35-14. So San Diego now lurks just a game back of first-place Kansas City in the AFC West.
Indy, meanwhile, is tied with Jacksonville for the lead in the AFC South, although the Jags own the tie-breaker thanks to a 31-28 Jacksonville win over the Colts back in Week 4. Last Sunday Indy fell behind New England 31-14 in the fourth quarter, rallied to get within three points, then saw QB Peyton Manning throw an interception in field goal range to lose 31-28.
Statistically speaking, the Chargers lead the league in total yardage at +147 YPG, while the Colts come in at +44 YPG. But while San Diego is outgaining opponents on the ground by a +25 YPG margin, Indy is getting outrushed by 48 YPG. And teams that win the ground-game battle have covered 67% of the pointspreads so far this season.
The Bolts and Colts have given fans and bettors some pretty entertaining games to watch and wager on in recent seasons, meeting six times since 2004. And San Diego has won four of the last five of those games, most recently a 23-17 decision in a playoff bout out west two seasons ago. The margins of victory in the last six games in the series between these two teams have been six points (in overtime), three, four, two, nine, and three points (again in OT).
On the personnel front, San Diego expects to get WR Vincent Jackson on the field for the first time this season after a contract holdout and a team suspension. And the Colts hope to get back RB Joseph Addai, who's missed the last four games with a shoulder injury.
But the injury lists for both teams are long, so bettors might want to keep an eye on that as game-time approaches.
Indy is tough at home, going 4-0 straight-up and 3-1 vs. the
BetJamaica.com pointspreads at the Oil Can this year. The Chargers, meanwhile, have struggled a bit on the road, going 1-4 both SU and ATS this year.
These two teams are a combined 12-8 on the totals so far this season, as both teams' games have averaged 48 points.