Indianapolis Colts at Houston Texans Pick – Odds and Against the Spread Predictions

The Houston Texans (11-5) and the Indianapolis Colts (10-6) will lock horns in the AFC Wildcard Round where these two AFC South rivals will convene at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas on Saturday, January 5th, 2019. The kick-off is scheduled for 4:35 PM ET and set to be aired on ABC. Presently, Houston enters into this affair riding a four-game winning streak against the Brownies. The two teams split their divisional series in 2018 with the away team winning both fixtures. Both games were settled by a field goal, one of which required overtime. Most recently, Indianapolis defeated Houston as a four-point underdog when the two sides last met in December in this very stadium by a score of 24-21.

Indianapolis Colts at Houston Texans Overview

Indianapolis Colts

After starting 1-5, the Colts would win nine of their last ten fixtures to come into the AFC Wildcard Round as one of the most dangerous teams in the conference. Led by the play of franchise quarterback Andrew Luck, the Colts defeated another divisional foe last week when they vanquished the Titans by a score of 33-17 in the Music City in a de facto playoff game for this very berth. The Colts closed as a 5.5-point favorite and covered successfully.

Houston Texans

The Texans put together a winning streak of nine games after starting off 0-3. Then, the Texans would see that very streak ended by this Colts team in the aforementioned December game. Since that fateful day, the Texans have gone 2-1 SU capping off their season with a 20-3 win over Jacksonville as a seven-point favorite to close out the regular season.

Reasons To Back Indianapolis

The Colts have played with their backs against the wall for a large portion of the 2018 regular season, and in doing so, they know how to win in hostile settings with every game being treated as an elimination fixture. The Colts will come into this contest with an “us against the world” mentality as Indy will be forced to harbor such an attitude with respect to the fact that they will be on the road for the duration of their post-season campaign. Teams such as these are risky to go against as they play with a nothing-to-lose mindset which often is a defining characteristic of many live dogs.

Reasons To Avoid Houston

Houston’s post-season history is a bit nefarious. Franchise victories for this team, include two wins at home against Cincinnati (a team that has not won a playoff game since 1990) and 2017’s victory against Oakland where their franchise quarterback Derek Carr was unavailable. Against any other post-season opponent, Houston has struggled mightily as they have no other playoff wins to their name. Given their pedigree, the Texans are a dicey play here.