Colts vs. Texans Thursday Night Football Betting Preview

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Special to Outkick The Coverage from OddsShark.com

The Indianapolis Colts are 15-0 straight up and 12-2-1 against the spread in their last 15 games against fellow AFC South teams according to the OddsShark NFL Database, but to get another divisional win tonight they will likely have to do it without their starting quarterback.

Andrew Luck (right shoulder) is expected to miss the Colts' game in Houston against the Texans. Indianapolis played without Luck last week, and had to escape with a 16-13 overtime victory at home against the Jacksonville Jaguars with veteran backup Matt Hasselbeck at the helm. Hasselbeck threw for 282 yards and one touchdown.

The Colts had been favored by four points against the Jaguars, so the three-point overtime victory dropped them to a wallet-emptying 0-4 ATS on the season to go along with their 2-2 straight-up mark. Indianapolis also won but didn't cover against Tennessee in Week 3.

Houston is off to an even slower start than Indianapolis this season, winning (and covering the posted spread) just once in their first four games -- a 19-9 home victory over Tampa Bay as a 6-point favorite in Week 3. The Texans were thumped 48-21 by the Atlanta Falcons last weekend as 4-point road underdogs.

The Texans got star running back Arian Foster back on the field against the Falcons, but he rushed for just 10 yards on eight carries in the loss. Foster, listed as probable on the injury report for this week, is expected to have a bigger role against Indianapolis tonight.

Indianapolis enters the matchup on a five-game winning streak against Houston, going 4-0-1 ATS in those contests for their supporters. Last year the Colts beat the Texans 33-28 as a 2.5-point road favorite and 17-10 as a 7-point home favorite. Totals bettors have watched the UNDER pay out at the sportsbooks in seven of their last nine matchups.

The Thursday Night Football line opened late, but the Texans are hovering between 4.5-point and 5-point home favorites for the contest at the sportsbooks as of late Thursday afternoon.

Kickoff for the game is set for 8:25pm ET at Houston's NRG Stadium. Check out the complete Colts vs. Texans matchup report at OddsShark.com.

 

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Clay Travis is the founder of the fastest growing national multimedia platform, OutKick, that produces and distributes engaging content across sports and pop culture to millions of fans across the country. OutKick was created by Travis in 2011 and sold to the Fox Corporation in 2021. One of the most electrifying and outspoken personalities in the industry, Travis hosts OutKick The Show where he provides his unfiltered opinion on the most compelling headlines throughout sports, culture, and politics. He also makes regular appearances on FOX News Media as a contributor providing analysis on a variety of subjects ranging from sports news to the cultural landscape. Throughout the college football season, Travis is on Big Noon Kickoff for Fox Sports breaking down the game and the latest storylines. Additionally, Travis serves as a co-host of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, a three-hour conservative radio talk program syndicated across Premiere Networks radio stations nationwide. Previously, he launched OutKick The Coverage on Fox Sports Radio that included interviews and listener interactions and was on Fox Sports Bet for four years. Additionally, Travis started an iHeartRadio Original Podcast called Wins & Losses that featured in-depth conversations with the biggest names in sports. Travis is a graduate of George Washington University as well as Vanderbilt Law School. Based in Nashville, he is the author of Dixieland Delight, On Rocky Top, and Republicans Buy Sneakers Too.