Broncos favored by 2½ to 3 points at Indianapolis on ‘TNF’
The Broncos will wear all-orange Color Rush uniforms in their “Thursday Night Football” matchup against the Colts. But it remains to be seen if they’ll resemble Denver’s old “Orange Crush” defense for the second consecutive game.
The Broncos blanked the New York Jets 23-0 at home Sunday to snap an eight-game losing streak straight up and against the spread. Based largely on that performance, Denver is favored by 2½ or 3 points at Indianapolis at Las Vegas sports books.
“It’s a little surprising that Denver is 0-6 on the road and still the favorite,” Sunset Station sports book director Chuck Esposito said. “They did play well against the Jets. It’s been fairly one-sided action in favor of Denver. At 3 points, there’s definitely some value with Indianapolis.”
Despite the shutout, Denver still is 24th in the NFL in scoring defense, allowing 24.2 points per game. The Colts are ranked No. 31 of 32 teams in scoring defense (26.4 ppg), allowing one fewer point than the Redskins.
The total is 40½ points.
The Colts have lost seven of their past eight games, falling 13-7 in overtime on a snowy Sunday in Buffalo. Indianapolis has averaged 12.5 points in its past four games and has allowed an NFL-worst 3.9 sacks per game.
Both teams have played well on Thursday, albeit mostly with much better quarterbacks than Trevor Siemian and Jacoby Brissett. The Colts are 12-2-1 ATS in their past 15 Thursday games, and the Broncos are on an 8-2 ATS run on Thursday.
Denver is 1-9 ATS in the past 10 meetings, and the over is 10-2 in the past 12 meetings.
The betting handle on the game was extremely light at the Golden Nugget as of Thursday afternoon.
“There is hardly any interest at all,” Golden Nugget sports book director Tony Miller said. “Thursday night games have been bad this year.”
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Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.
