When the Jets (2-5) take on the Colts (3-5) in Indianapolis to begin NFL Week 9 on “Thursday Night Football” (Fox, NFL Network, Amazon Prime Video), it will be two teams trying to turn things around ahead of 2021 season’s second half.
New York has two wins over AFC contenders at home (Titans, Bengals) but has struggled on the road, looking for its first victory there. Indianapolis has gone only 1-3 in Lucas Oil Stadium, beating only the lowly Texans so far.
Jets’ backup quarterback Mike White made his first career start in place of rookie Zach Wilson and played near-perfect football, leading his team from an 11-point second-half deficit to a home win over the heavily favored and red-hot Bengals.
The Colts had their two-game winning streak snapped by the Titans in their last game. They will try to bounce back from the loss with a win over the Jets, which will give them their third win in their last four games.
The Colts fell to the Tennessee Titans last week, by a score of 34-31. They were three-point favorites in that one so they failed to cover, but their bigger loss was at running back. Derrick Henry (foot) is expected to miss the rest of the season after suffering a foot injury, which led to the Titans signing RB Adrian Peterson this week.
Colts are 23rd in the league in passing offense with an average of 228.9 yards per game through the air while they are 12th in rushing offense with 122 yards per contest on the ground. Indianapolis is 14th in the league in scoring offense with 25 points per game while they stand 14th in scoring defense by allowing 22.9 points per contest.
Jets are 19th in the league in passing offense as they average 230.9 yards per game through the air. The team is 32nd, or last, in the league in rushing offense as they put up 75.6 yards per contest. New York is 30th in the league in scoring offense as they put up only 16.3 points per game. The Jets are 30th in the league in scoring defense as they allow an average of 29.4 points per contest.
Prediction: New York Jets +10.5