This has all the makings of a great game. It’s Christmas Day, and these two teams look like they deserve a spot in the playoffs. Let’s take a look at the Indianapolis Colts vs. Arizona Cardinals Week 16 matchup, the NFL odds, and make a pick and prediction.
Indianapolis Colts vs. Arizona Cardinals pick, prediction | Week 16
- Spread: Cardinals -2 (Odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook)
- Moneyline: Cardinals -130, Colts +110
- Over/Under: 49.5
The Colts tussled with the Patriots on Saturday night. They pulled away when Jonathan Taylor finally broke free late in the game and put the Colts out of reach. Taylor had another 170 yards and slowly wore down the Patriots’ defense. It was a well-coached game from Frank Reich and his staff and one in which the entire Indianapolis roster looked to be in fine form.
[bet-promo id=”174860″ ]After an unfortunate start to the season, the Colts are now 5-1 in their last six games. They’ve really turned things around. While a couple of those games came against some of the league’s lower-ranked opponents (Houston, Jacksonville), they also knocked off Buffalo in a landslide and beat New England last weekend.
Taylor looks unstoppable, and the Colts did a good job opening the game up without involving him, potentially distracting the Patriots’ defense before feeding Taylor. When he got going, he was spectacular once again.
Cardinals need to stop the slide
As for the Cardinals, a whimpering loss to the Detroit Lions is not at all where they hoped to be going into Week 16. That defeat follows their Week 15 divisional loss to the Rams. Those losses put the Rams just one game behind Arizona, which faces the Seahawks on December 21.
The Cardinals have almost given up their extremely strong position of a couple of weeks ago and need to turn it around fast. An in-form Colts team on both sides of the ball is not what you’re looking for.
Colts vs. Cardinals betting trends
The Colts are 5-1 in their last six games and have won four of those against the spread, too. They’ve hit on unders in their last two contests, giving up just 17 points across both. Indianapolis is 9-5 against the spread for the season.
The Cardinals have lost their last two games straight up and ATS as favorites. Arizona was a 13-point favorite against the Lions, so their 30-12 loss ended up a 31-point swing. That’s not good. The Cardinals are also 9-5 against the spread and 7-7 in over/unders.
Colts vs. Cardinals prediction
I’m in the Colts’ corner for this one. Their defense is better than the Cardinals’ right now, and with Taylor coming into town, I’m not sure how well Arizona will be able to contain Indy’s offense. Plus, the Cards are now without DeAndre Hopkins for the rest of the regular season, and things aren’t ticking as easily on offense.
While Arizona’s defense has turned up more than we expected this season, they’ve been leaking points in recent weeks. They gave up over 120 yards on the ground to the Lions (who were without their top two running backs), and Sony Michel had almost 80 yards the week before.
I like the Colts to win the game, so I’ll take the bonus points — and I’m betting the over too.
Colts vs. Cardinals Prediction: Colts 27, Cardinals 24