It will be a David vs. Goliath-like battle when the Final 2 from the AFC battle for the Lamar Hunt Trophy on Sunday.
The Indianapolis Colts, who are “supposed to be in the AFC title game,” will host the New York Jets, who “weren’t even supposed to make the playoffs” (3:00 p.m. ET, CBS)
On top of that, we’ll see the tried, tested and true QB Peyton Manning dueling with the rookie signal-caller Mark Sanchez.
Online sportsbooks opened Indy as a 7.5 point favorite (a couple books opened Indy -7 early but immediately moved the line to 7.5 across the board). The spread has since widened to -8. The total is set at 40.5.
The betting action has leveled off after the initial spike of early Indy money. If you’re thinking about betting on the Jets you might as well wait since the line isn’t expected to come down and could continue to rise a little.
Let’s look at some numbers from this matchup.
Indy is 6-2 against the spread (ATS) in their last eight games (remember they didn’t care about the last couple of games on their schedule). Note that in their most recent eight games vs. teams from the AFC East, the result has been six overs and two unders.
Bettors who have sided with the Colts haven’t seen much of a payout in Indy’s last 10 games against the Jets, having gone 3-6-1 ATS.
You don’t have to look too far back to their last meeting. It was a controversial game a few weeks ago that resulted in a road win for the Jets, as they handed Indianapolis its first loss of the regular season by a final score of 29-15.
Of course, as is well known, many of the Colts starters were on the bench in the second half of that game. The Jets covered as 4-point road dogs and the score topped the 41-point total.
In their last nine home games in January, the Colts have been a solid 6-3 ATS.
The Jets have been road warriors in their last 10 away from the Big Apple as they are 7-3 ATS and are currently on a five-game ATS win streak in that situation.
In New York’s last eight games overall, the Jets are a red-hot 7-1 ATS, including 2-0 ATS in the NFL playoffs.
In the Jets’ last eight games when listed as underdogs of 8-points or less, they are 7-1 ATS.
Will Peyton Manning go for the second Super Bowl of his career or will Mark Sanchez cap his rookie season with a Super Bowl appearance?
We’ll see this weekend.
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Title: AFC Championship Betting Preview: Jets at Colts
Duration: 0:00
Submited by: Editor
Category: Sports Roundup
Added on: January 22nd, 2010
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