AFC Championship Game Final Betting Preview
The day is finally here. Today, we will determine who will be the NFC and AFC Champions as well as who will be going to the Super Bowel. Let’s take one last preview of the AFC Championship game between the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots.
Last week, Andrew Luck led his team to a victory over the Peyton Manning-led Denver Broncos. Luck was the heir to Manning in Indianapolis and with his victory, the city finally felt completely OK about the decision to let Manning go and allow Luck to take the helm of the Colts, so it was more than just a playoff win for the Colts.
Now Luck heads to New England where he will face off with a nemesis he has yet to figure out New England.
The Pats have proven to be unpredictable in terms of their legacy and how they play when facing off against the Colts. Just this year, everyone was calling an end to the Pats legacy as a top tier team, but Tom Brady and Bill Belichick continue to fight their way into the upper echelon of the NFL year after year.
As far as the short term, it seems every time the Patriots meet with the Colts they have something knew to throw at them. Last time they took on the Colts, the Pats were suddenly a running offense. Though, more consistently, the Pats have been a team all about the defense, allowing only 19.6 points a game.
On offense, Brady is not putting up the eye-popping numbers he did a few season ago. However, they continue to find ways to win utilizing other tools of the trade.
The oddsmakers have the Pats as 7-point favorites.
New England has had a great season going 13-5 straight up. They have been middle-of-the road for bettors, though. They are 9-8 against the spread and are 2-4 against the spread in their last six games.
In the Patriots last outing, they beat the Baltimore Ravens 35-31 at home. They failed to cover the 7-point spread as favorites in the game.
The Colts have been a pretty solid bet this season. They are 12-5-1 against the spread. They covered a 9.5-point spread as underdogs against the Denver Broncos in their last game by winning 24-13 in an upset.
The total is set at 54 points. Both these teams favor the UNDER in recent history, though differ in their last outings.
The Pats hit the OVER against the Ravens and have sent UNDER bettors to the payout window in five of their last seven games.
The Colts went UNDER against the Broncos. They have also sent the UNDER to the window in their last five consecutive games.
The AFC Championship game starts at 6:40 p.m. ET and you can watch it on CBS.
