Fans are making their NFL Week 5 picks, and as far as the books are concerned, most of the money is backing the New England Patriots for their Thursday Night Football game against the Indianapolis Colts. Experts are choosing their NFL Week 5 picks, and unlike the money, the pundits are largely backing the Indianapolis Colts over the New England Patriots. The 1-3 Colts will hit the road to meet the 2-2 Patriots in Thursday Night Football action. The game airs on Fox and the NFL Network at 8:20 p.m. EST.
If you’re looking to live stream Thursday Night Football , Amazon Prime will be airing the game. Hulu also offers live streaming of NFL games, though you have to be a subscriber of their live television packages, and the streaming service offers a free trial. FuboTV will be airing the game as well, and the streaming service also offers a free trial. Additional streaming services for NFL games include Sling TV and PlayStation Vue. If you’re on the road and want to listen to Thursday Night Football , XM: 813 has the Colts feed, XM: 820 has the Patriots feed, and XM: 88 has the NFL feed.
The last time that New England faced Indianapolis was three years ago in October of 2015, and the Patriots won 34-27. Including five postseason games, these two teams have met a total of 80 times in NFL history — and the Patriots lead the series 51-29.
Patriots Get Their Biggest Weapon Back On Thursday
The 2-2 Patriots had a rough start this NFL season, but last week, Bill Belichick’s top AFC team clicked back into gear and found a 38-7 blowout victory over the Miami Dolphins. In Week 4, Tom Brady completed 23 of his 35 passes for 274 yards, with three touchdowns and two interceptions. James White led the air game with eight receptions for 68 yards and one touchdown. Phillip Dorsett and Cordarrelle Patterson logged a touchdown each. Rob Gronkowski found four receptions for 44 yards. For the season, Tom Brady has a 64.4 completion rate for 918 yards with nine touchdowns and four interceptions.
Gronkowski has been battling an ankle injury this NFL season, and he left the Dolphins’ game early. Thankfully, as Larry Brown Sports documented, the injury doesn’t appear to be a serious one, and Gronk is expected to suit up on Thursday. In addition, New England will get their top weapon back on Thursday, as Julian Edelman has finished serving his four-game suspension.
Latest on Gronk, and is this ankle something that’s plagued him for a better part of the fall? #Patriots pic.twitter.com/A4ADc9CuVM
— Mike Giardi (@MikeGiardi) October 2, 2018
In the Miami game, Sony Michel led the ground report with 25 carries for 112 yards and one touchdown. James White logged eight carries for 44 yards and one touchdown. On the defense side of the ball, Jonathan Jones managed eight tackles, John Simon had five tackles with one sack, and J.C. Jackson found an interception. For the season, the Patriots’ D is allowing 21 points and 347.8 yards per game on average.
Breaking down a Week 4? win by the numbers. #GoPats pic.twitter.com/r2LQTbOzOV
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) October 1, 2018
Colts Likely Losing Their Top Weapon On Thursday
Aside from a Week 2 win against the Washington Redskins, the Colts have been finding it difficult to find some much needed victories this NFL season. In Week 4, Indianapolis narrowly lost to the Texans 37-34, giving Houston their only win this year. However, the Colts showed some great promise during that game, coming back from a 28-10 deficit in the third quarter. Andrew Luck had his best outing yet this season, completing 40 of his 62 pass attempts for 464 yards with four touchdowns and zero interceptions.
T.Y. Hilton had four receptions for 115 yards. Hilton is contending with a chest and hamstring injury, though reportedly, it is the hamstring that will likely leave Hilton out of the Thursday game. The Colts aren’t used to performing without their star playmaker, as T.Y. has 42 consecutive starts, ranking him No. 3 in the NFL among active players.
Andrew Luck: 40 completions + 464 passing yards + 4 TD. ?
His BEST throws from Week 4! #HOUvsIND #Colts https://t.co/UsIVihbRzH
— NFL (@NFL) October 1, 2018
However, that doesn’t necessarily spell doomsday for the Colts. Hilton largely missed the Texans game, and Andrew Luck still managed to light up the scoreboard, connecting with players that many NFL fans may not be familiar with. Nyheim Hines logged nine receptions for 63 yards and two touchdowns, Zach Pascal found six receptions for 56 yards and one touchdown, and Eric Ebron had five receptions for 40 yards and one touchdown.
Defensively, Darius Leonard had 13 tackles and one sack. Anthony Walker Jr. had 10 tackles and a sack. Denico Autry logged nine tackles and two sacks. Pierre Desir managed five tackles and an interception.
NFL Week 5 Picks & Odds For Indianapolis at New England
As of the time of this writing, the New England Patriots are favored to beat the Indianapolis Colts with by a spread of -10. While most of the money is going with New England, most expert picks are headed in the opposite direction. Though most pundits are expecting a Patriots victory on Thursday, they don’t feel that it will be by the large spread that they have been given. Certainly, if T.Y. Hilton doesn’t play, that may cause the Colts to have some problems offensively. However, Luck managed to put points on the board when Hilton wasn’t on the field last Sunday. Moreover, the Colts’ defense looks good enough to keep this a competitive game, at least, within 10 points.
UP NEXT: @Colts vs. @Patriots on #TNF ! Thursday Night. 8pm ET. #INDvsNE
?: @nflnetwork | @NFLonFOX | @PrimeVideo pic.twitter.com/kB5AAkYiQA
— NFL (@NFL) October 2, 2018
Another interesting number to look at in this NFL matchup is the over/under, which is currently at 51.5. The Colts have the second most pass attempts in the NFL, and the Patriots are allowing three touchdowns per game. New England can certainly put points on the board, and Edelman returning on Thursday should help them do so. Each of the last eight games between these two teams have produced at least 52 points, and you have to go back an entire decade to find a low-scoring game between New England and Indianapolis.
By a large margin, most expert NFL Week 5 picks are siding with taking the 10 points and backing the Colts over the Patriots, and most over/under picks are with the over at 51.5.
