This Sunday, the 4th of January, 2015, we have the AFC Wild Card game. The 10-5 Cincinnati Bengals play the 11-5 Indianapolis Colts at the The 10-5 Cincinnati Bengals play the 11-5 Indianapolis Colts at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana at 1:05 PM E TThe 10-5 Cincinnati Bengals play the 11-5 Indianapolis Colts at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana at 1:05 PM ET in Indianapolis, Indiana at 1:05 PM ET. The early odds favor the Colts at -3 ½ (-105) with O/U at 49 and ML -180, with the comeback on the Bengals +3 ½ (-115) and ML +160.
The Bengals had anticipating entering the 2014 NFL playoffs as the AFC North division champions, but that was not to be, as they are going into this postseason as Wild Card team since they lost their last season game to the Steelers 27-17, which gave the Pittsburgh the 2014 AFC North Title. These 2 teams met back on the 19th of Oct. 2014 and the Colts beat the Bengals 27-0 with an incredible 506 total yards that they allowed the Colts. Regardless, the Bengals will show up for this game looking for the win, and they will use RB Hill to the limit if necessary as they lean on the run in this game, especially against the Colts 18th ranked defense. Cincinnati had been in the playoffs the previous 3 years and last year won their Division, thus they been there, and done that before.
The Colts last week had a win last week, after the week before getting smashed on the road by the Dallas, and they come into this game with the leagues No.1 offense but No.18 in defense, which in this game could be a real concern for the Colts. However, on offense QB Luck has some great offensive weapons with a duo of WR’s in Holton & Wayne who together had receptions for 2,124 yards.
The Colts have played each other some 8 times since 2001 with the Colts leading the series 6-2. The 2014 season statistics tell us the Bengals average 348.0 offensive yards per game, with 213.8 passing and 134.2 rushing yards, while the Colts averaged some 406.6 offensive yards, with 305.9 passing and 100.8 rushing yards.
On defense during the 2014 regular season the Bengals allowed opponents to average 359.3 offensive yards, with 243.0 passing and 116.3 rushing. The Colts on defense allowed their opponents to gain 342.7 offensive yards, with 229.3 passing and 113.4 rushing.
First we take a look at the quarterback statistics, which have Bengals QB passing for 3,298 yards with 19 touchdowns and 17 interceptions with completion rate of 64.2 percent, while Colt QB Luck passed for some 4,761 yards with 40 touchdowns and 16 interceptions with a completion rate of 61.7 percent.
Comparing the RBs, the Bengals RBs of Hill & Bernard in 2014 combined for 390 carries for 1,804 yards with Hill scoring 5 touchdowns and Bernard scoring 5 touchdowns. The Colts RBs Richardson & Bradshaw had a combined 249 carries for 944 yards with Richardson scoring 3 touchdowns and Bradshaw 2 touchdowns.
The leading Receivers for the Bengals are Green & Sanu who combined for 125 receptions for 1,831 yards with Green scoring 6 touchdowns and Sanu scoring 5 touchdowns. The Colts Receivers Hilton & Wayne had 146 combined receptions for 2,124 yards, with Hilton scoring 7 touchdowns and Wayne scoring 2 touchdowns on the season.
If you bet on NFL football playoffs at online sportsbook, the Cappers say the Colts will not romp the Bengals in this game, but they are playing at home and they should win and cover the spread.