There was a point that both Andrew Luck and Ryan Mallett were in definite doubt to play on Thursday Night Football for the Indianapolis Colts and the Houston Texans respectively. Both are going to play this week though, and that will give Luck a massive advantage for fantasy betting purposes at BookMaker.
We have to go under the assumption that Luck is healthy now. We know that he probably has some sort of a problem with his shoulder still, but there's a different between playing hurt and playing injured. If you go under that assumption that the Stanford man is good to go and isn't playing legitimately injured, you have to think that things are going to improve for him.
Thus far this year, Luck has seven picks against just five touchdown passes, and his quarterback rating of 65.1 is pathetically low. He has averaged just 18 fantasy points per game, which is nothing in comparison to his 27.9 fantasy points per game last season by BookMaker's scoring system.
Now, he gets to play against a team he has terrorized in his career. The Texans' secondary is still awful, and it has never had any answers whatsoever for T.Y. Hilton. Last year in this game, Hilton had nine catches for 223 yards and a touchdown.
Keep an eye on Andre Johnson as well in this case. Sure, the future Hall of Famer hasn't been visible at all in the Indy offense, but if there's a man who knows how to torch this Houston secondary, it's the man who had played his entire career before this year with the Texans.
The other reason we really like Luck in this matchup is because of how bad Mallett's offense looks like it could be. Yes, the Colts don't have the greatest defense in the world, and allowing almost 270 passing yards per game to Tyrod Taylor, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Marcus Mariota and Blake Bortles isn't exactly a ringing endorsement.
However, Mallett is severely handicapped in this game for fantasy purposes. He isn't going to have his second and third best receivers in Cecil Shorts III and Nate Washington, and you just know that Bill O'Brien finally wants to get this ground game going with Arian Foster after three games without him and a woeful game last week in which nothing went right against the Falcons.
That means a healthy dose of the ground game, something else which Indy has had no history slowing down.
Mallett and Brian Hoyer have already thrown the ball over 200 times this year between them, numbers which simply won't keep up for a team which is built to run the ball before it throws it. Both Foster and Alfred Blue will have their say on this game, which will both serve as a way to shorten the game and a way to keep Mallett from becoming a detriment to his team.
There's also that possibility that Mallett gets the hook. He was pulled in the third quarter of last week's game in Atlanta after a dreadful two and a half quarters, and another slow start could cause O'Brien to go back to Hoyer, who looked great leading three touchdown drives after the game was out of reach.
It's going to be costly to get Luck in fantasy betting against Mallett, but this matchup clearly dictates laying the lumber, as the Colts have a much better chance to have multiple passing touchdowns than the Texans do on Thursday.
BookMaker opened the spread for this Thursday soiree at a pick 'em. The NFL odds total surfaced at 45. Minute-by-minute spreads, totals and props are available for this game using the live betting platform at BookMaker.
Load your betting bankroll from your smartphone or tablet with BookMaker’s new cashier feature! Depositing and withdrawing funds from your account has never been easier. BookMaker's live betting platform means you always have access to odds and lines to every sporting event. Click here and start wagering today! The game between the Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans is scheduled for Thursday, October 8, 2015, at 8:30 p.m. ET at NRG Stadium. The game will be broadcast regionally on CBS and the NFL Network.
