The first AFC South matchup of the season takes place in the early portion of Sunday’s games with the Indianapolis Colts traveling to Jacksonville to take on the Jaguars. The Colts are currently a sleeper to make it to the Super Bowl, while the Jaguars are the favorite to secure the first pick in April’s draft. Indianapolis added Philip Rivers and DeForest Buckner to make the most of this season. Meanwhile, Jacksonville has shipped off key players including Leonard Fournette, Ronnie Harrison, and Yannick Ngakoue. Both teams will look to get off to a hot start and earn a divisional win.
The Colts are the favorites to win this game across the board by analysts. Rivers finally has a great supporting cast around him, including a great offensive line. He will likely not be tasked with throwing the ball much in Week 1 as the rushing attack, led by Marlon Mack and Jonathan Taylor, will take center stage. That rushing attack should expose a Jacksonville run defense that ranked 28th in the league last year. Rivers has T.Y. Hilton as his number one receiver this year and will be going against C.J. Henderson, who the Jaguars chose with the ninth overall pick in the draft. Michael Pittman Jr. and Parris Campbell will likely play a role in the passing attack this week as the Jacksonville secondary is a mess.
For Jacksonville’s offense, it comes down to Gardner Minshew and how well he performs. Minshew went 6-6 last year as a starter and will look to convince the coaching staff that he is the future at the quarterback position. The rushing attack will likely be led by James Robinson, who the team listed as their starting running back on their depth chart. Chris Thompson will be on the field in this game a ton as the Jaguars will likely find themselves trailing early. Expect DJ Chark to get peppered by targets this week as Minshew and he have great chemistry. Jacksonville’s offensive line will be put to the test right away against Buckner and Justin Houston.
Game Info
Date: Sunday, September 13th
Start Time: 1:00 PM
Location: Jacksonville, Florida
Stadium: TIAA Bank Field
TV Info: CBS
Betting Odds
Point Spread: IND: -8 (-110) | JAX: +8 (-110)
Moneyline: IND: -400 | JAX: +320
Over/Under: 45
If you want to risk a small amount of money and bet on the Jaguars’ Moneyline this week, you could potentially earn quite a bit of money. Indianapolis could very well blow the spread out of the water this week as Jacksonville seems like a mess. I would take the under in this game.
Prediction
This has all the writing to be a blowout. Indianapolis is the better team by a country mile, and it would be a huge upset if Jacksonville were to win this game.
Final Score: Colts 31, Jaguars 13
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