Cincinnati Bengals (8-5) at Indianapolis Colts (10-3)-3, o/u 54.5, 8:30 p.m. Eastern Monday, December 18 ESPN Network
by Ultimatecapper.com Staff
The Cincinnati Bengals, fighting for a playoff spot, travel to Indianapolis to take on the Colts who are trying to secure a playoff bye in the Monday night prime time game.
Cincinnati, at 8-5, is currently 2 games behind Baltimore in the AFC North division but they are in the lead for a wildcard spot. Indianapolis, at 10-3, has a 2 game lead in the AFC South division and is tied for the #2 playoff seed.
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The Bengals go on the road sporting a 4 game winning streak in which they have only given up an average 8.25 points per game. Cincinnati has played well despite the controversy of having 8 players run afoul of the law.
The Colts have struggled lately losing 3 of their last 4 games after a 9-0 start to the season. Especially troubling for the Colts is their inability to stop the run as Jacksonville ran over them last week in a 44-17 loss that saw Jacksonville gain 375 yards rushing.
Cincinnati is 7-5-1 against the spread this season, they are 4-2 straight up but only 2-4 ATS on the road.
Indianapolis is 7-6 ATS this season, and 6-0 SU and 4-2 vs. the number at home.
Cincinnati starting QB, Carson Palmer, has been playing well lately after starting out the season slowly following offseason recovery of the serious knee injury he suffered last year in the playoffs. He has thrown for 28 touchdowns and has thrown 11 interceptions for the Bengals and has a QB rating of 101.9 with a 64.98% completion rate.
The star for Indianapolis, starting QB Peyton Manning, is having another big year. He has 25 touchdown passes and only 9 interceptions. His QB rating is 97.4 with a completion rate of 63.1%.
The Bengals are being outrushed by their opponents this season by a 101-109 yards-per-game average, while the Colts are being outrushed by their opponents by a 109-176 YPG margin.
Cincinnati is averaging a 5.9 yards per play on the season while Indianapolis is averaging 6.1 yards per play. The Bengals defense has given up an average of 5.6 yards per play while the Colts have given up an average of 5.8 yards per play.
These two teams have only played 1 common opponent this season. The Bengals lost to New England at home 13-38, while the Colts beat the Patriots in New England by a score of 27-20.
These two teams met in the preseason with the Bengals prevailing 20-3. The Colts have won 6 of the last 10 meetings between these teams.
Cincinnati ranks 7th in total offense averaging 349.7 yards per game. Indianapolis ranks 2nd with 381.4 yards per game.
In scoring offense, Cincinnati also ranks 6th averaging 24.4 points per game and Indianapolis ranks 5th averaging 26.3 points per game.
On the defensive side of the ball the Bengals rank 26th in total defense giving up 347.5 yards per game while the Colts rank 18th giving up an average of 333.1 yards per game.
In scoring defense Cincinnati ranks 8th and Indianapolis ranks 24th giving up 19.2 and 22.7 points per game, respectively.
The Sagarin PREDICTOR ratings at USAToday.com ranks Cincinnati #7 at 25.96, Indianapolis is #4 at 27.72.
The O/U is 6-7 in Bengal games this season, the O/U is also 6-7 in Colt games.
Indianapolis opened up as a 3 point road favorite at most
online sportsbooks
with a total of 54.5. The line has stayed steady for both the side and total. At the time of this writing, the betting public was backing the Bengals 67%-33%.
The Ultimatecapper Pick: It is unusual when the publicsupports a dog, couple that with the fact that the Colts don’tlose at home very often means that we will be wagering on Indianapolisminus the points on this game. | 
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