Thursday Night Football

Week 15 of the NFL kicks off tonight with one of the two remaining undefeated teams on the road for a heated divisional battle. That's right, the Colts look to go to 14-0 in Jacksonville against the up and down Jags. The Colts claim that they are going to continue to play starters for the majority of the game, so no worries about this wager being influenced by the likes of Mike Hart and Jim Sorgi.

Indianapolis Colts @ Jacksonville Jaguars - Line is Colts -3.5 - The battles between the Colts and Jags have been notoriously hard fought, close games. The Jags certainly get up for the Colts and view these games as important measuring sticks for where they stand in the division and the league. This will be further compounded by the fact that this is a primetime, Thursday night game. Unfortunately, that measuring stick is going to return a rather short assessment of the Jags position vis-a-vis the Colts this season. Indy hasn't lost a regular season game in well over a year and the Jags have a difficult time stringing consecutive Ws together.

The Jags D, particularly its secondary, has been banded up and playing poorly. That is never a good recipe against the Colts. Look to Peyton and the boys to move the ball with relative ease in the early going, forcing the Jags to keep up offensively. This won't play well into the Jags offensive strategy which is to bludgeon you with mini-sledgehammer MJD and then attack through the air with dump offs and short routes to the tight end. The ability, or lack thereof, of Jacksonville to gain large chunks of yards in the passing game (hello Mike Two-Last-Names) will determine if this game stays close. History suggests that it will, for at least a while.

Regardless, the Colts are playing with a horseshoe firmly logged in their rectums. This team has been pulling out mini-miracles all year. Give them the added advantage of being the most prepared team in the league - which is really big considering this is a short week for both teams.

We like the Jags to be in the hunt through midway into the 3rd quarter and then the Colts to do just enough to put this one away. We'd recommend buying half-a-point to get the line to -3 just so you have a bit of added piece of mind. Our pick is Indy -3. Final score is 34-24. LOCK IT UP