Bettors back Houston Texans over Indianapolis Colts on ‘TNF’

The Texans and Colts are tied for the AFC South lead at 6-4 and on Thursday afternoon both teams were projected by NFL.com to make the playoffs.

That will change after their “Thursday Night Football” game in Houston, where the Texans are 3½-point favorites over Indianapolis.

Houston opened as a 5½-point favorite over the Colts on the lookahead line at the Westgate sportsbook before its 41-7 blowout loss at Baltimore. The Westgate reported a sharp play on the Texans at minus 3½ and the betting public is all over Houston at Caesars Entertainment, according to director of trading Jeff Davis.

“We need the Colts pretty big,” Davis said.

Indianapolis (5-4-1 ATS) is coming off a 33-13 win over the Jaguars and has won and covered the last three meetings with the Texans (5-5 ATS), including a 30-23 win in Week 7.

“It’s a big game for both teams but a bigger game for the Texans because they lost to the Colts and now you have the Raiders (6-4) in the equation as a wild-card team,” Sunset Station sportsbook director Chuck Esposito said. “If the Texans lose here, they’re essentially two games behind the Colts because of the tiebreaker.

“The big thing in this game is (wideout) T.Y. Hilton looks to be back and the Colts are a much better team with him in the lineup. When he’s not in the lineup, they’re 1-6.”

The consensus total is 46 and Esposito expects Station Casinos’ books to need the under.

The Texans are on a 3-0 under streak. The Colts have alternated over and under the last seven weeks, going over in their win over Jacksonville.

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Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.