Indianapolis Colts -8 @ Jacksonville Jaguars
I have the Colts coming in for a lock of the week at Jacksonville. This was a fairly easy pick for me even with the larger spread at -8. The Colts have more fire power and rather than trading everyone away they’ve added some key components including Philip Rivers.
I’ll start with Jacksonville just dropping half a team. Losing Fournette and Nick Foles on the offensive side to play Minshew Mania and an UDFA RB James Robinson out of ILL St. The Jaguars also part ways with DE Ngakoue, DL Calais Campbell and CB A.J. Bouye. They brought in a huge piece in LB Joe Schobert from the Browns who finished last season with 133 tackles, 2 sacks, and 4 interceptions. They also bring in 3 rookies in CJ Henderson CB out of Florida, K’Lavon Chaisson DE out of LSU and Davon Hamilton NT out of The Ohio State University. But relying on rookies on defense to perform in week 1 against veteran Philip Rivers and company doesn’t sound like a recipe for success to me especially with no preseason games played. The only Jag I really feel that needs to be mentioned on defense is Josh Allen returning after a good rookie year where he had 31 tackles and 10.5 sacks. The Jags defense looks less than ideal but they return Wide Receivers DJ Chark and Chris Conley who combined for 120 receptions, 1783 yards and 13 touchdowns. They added Tyler Eifert at TE bringing 43 receptions, 436 yards and 3 touchdowns from Cincy and drafted highly spoke of wideout Laviska Shenault out of Colorado.
On the other hand, Indianapolis made some moves. I mentioned they brought in Philip Rivers who brings great leadership with his 4,615 passing yards and 23 touchdowns. They also bring in DT DeBuckner from the 49ers with 62 tackles and 7.5 sacks and CB Rhodes from Minnesota with 63 tackles. On the offensive side the Colts look to have a promising year. Mack returns with 247 rushing attempts for 1,091 yards and 8 touchdowns, they add Jonathan Taylor rookie RB out of Wisconsin as well. Wide receivers TY Hilton and Pascal return having combined for 86 receptions, 1,108 yards and 10 touchdowns. Hilton only played 10 games last year is worth noting here. They also drafted Michael Pittman JR. out of So Cal to complete the wide receiving core. On defense they return Leonard with his 121 tackles, 5 sacks, and 5 interceptions. Walker added 124 tackles, 2.5 sacks and 1 interception and Justin Houston had 44 tackles with 11 sacks.
This is a wild mismatch for this early in the year. No preseason games means less chemistry for newer additions sure, however, the fire power on both sides of the ball for Indianapolis seems to be more than enough on paper. You’ll want to turn this game off at halftime no doubt as the Colts will win by at least 14 if not 20. My prediction for the final score is 35-14. No Minshew Mania to start this season.
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