Sports
NFL AFC South Picks: Houston Texans vs Indianapolis Colts 12/6/20 NFL Picks, Odds, Predictions – Sports Chat Place
Indianapolis Colts (7-4) at Houston Texans (4-7)
NFL Football: Sunday, December 6, 2020 at 1:00 pm (NRG Stadium)
The Line: Houston Texans +3 — Over/Under: 53
Click to Get Latest Betting Odds
TV: CBS Stream live sports and exclusive originals on ESPN+. Sign up now!
The Houston Texans square off with the Indianapolis Colts in an AFC South division matchup in week 13 NFL action from NRG Stadium in Houston on Sunday afternoon.
The Indianapolis Colts will look to bounce back after a 45-26 loss to Tennessee in their last matchup to fall to 7-4 on the year. Philip Rivers has thrown for 2,978 yards, 16 touchdowns and 9 interceptions on 67.3% passing while Jonathan Taylor leads the Colts in rushing with 518 rushing yards and 4 TDs. Jordan Wilkins and Nyheim Hines each have 200+ rushing yards as well for the Colts this season. T.Y. Hilton leads Indianapolis in receiving with 408 yards while Zach Pascal has 407 receiving yards and the aforementioned Hines has a team-high 44 grabs for 362 yards and 4 scores. Michael Pittman Jr. and Mo Alie-Cox each had 300+ receiving yards while three more Colts have 200+ receiving yards. On defense, Darius Leonard leads the Colts with 80 total tackles including 54 solo tackles while Denico Autry has a team-high 6 sacks and Justin Houston has 4.5 sacks. Kenny Moore II, Julian Blackmon and Xavier Rhodes each have a pair of interceptions this season for Indy.
The Houston Texans will look to build on back-to-back wins after improving to 4-7 on the year after a 41-25 win over Detroit last time out. Deshaun Watson has thrown for 3,201 yards, 24 touchdowns and 5 interceptions on 68.9% passing while also rushing for 293 yards and a pair of touchdowns this season. David Johnson leads Houston’s running backs with 408 rushing yards and 3 TDs while Duke Johnson has 201 rushing yards this season. Will Fuller V leads Houston’s receiving group with 53 grabs for 879 yards and 8 scores, but will miss the next 6 games because of a PED violation. Brandin Cooks has 719 receiving yards with 52 catches and 3 touchdowns while Randall Cobb has 441 receiving yards and 3 scores with 38 grabs. Darren Fells and Jordan Akins each have 275 receiving yards with Fells adding 3 touchdowns this season. On defense, Zach Cunningham leads the Texans with 110 total tackles including a team-high 71 solo tackles and 3 sacks while J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus each have 4 sacks to lead Houston in that department.
Indianapolis is 1-4 in their last 5 division games and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games against the AFC while the over is 5-1 in their last 6 games as a road favorite. Houston is 3-7 ATS in their last 10 division games and 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games against a team with a winning record while the under is 5-1 in their last 5 home games. Indianapolis is 7-0-1 ATS in the last 8 meetings between these two teams in Houston and 4-0 ATS in the last 4 meetings between these two teams overall.
I was leaning towards Houston and the free field goal at home as Houston’s stepped up their play in the last couple of weeks and Deshaun Watson is really coming on lately. The problem for the Texans is that Will Fuller V getting suspended is big for this team as he was Watson’s favorite target and there’s not much else going on for Houston in terms of skill players. Indianapolis is still in a dogfight for playoff positioning and the Colts have owned the Texans both overall ATS and in Houston in recent years and I just have a feeling that the Colts win this one by 4-6 points. I’ll lay the points with Indianapolis in this one.
Chris’s Pick
Indianapolis Colts -3
Sports
Canucks place goalie Thatcher Demko on long-term injured list – CBC.ca
The Vancouver Canucks have placed all-star goalie Thatcher Demko on the long-term injured reserve list retroactively.
“It’s just cap related,” coach Rick Tocchet said after practice Wednesday. “We get some cap relief, that’s all it is.”
The 28-year-old netminder has been considered week to week since being sidelined with a lower-body injury midway through Vancouver’s 5-0 win over the Winnipeg Jets on March 9.
That injury designation hasn’t changed, Tocchet said.
Demko boasts a 34-18-2 record this season, with a .917 save percentage, a 2.47 goals-against average and five shutouts.
Casey DeSmith has taken over the starting job for Vancouver, going 3-2-1 since Demko’s injury. He has a .899 save percentage on the season with a 2.73 goals-against average and one shutout.
The earliest Demko could be back in the Canucks’ lineup is April 6 against the Kings in Los Angeles.
He’s expected to be a key piece as Vancouver (45-19-8) prepares for its first playoff appearance since the COVID-shortened 2019-20 campaign.
Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin also announced Wednesday that the club has called up forward Arshdeep Bains from the Abbotsford Canucks of the American Hockey League.
“I’d like to see where [Bains is] at,” Tocchet said, noting he isn’t sure whether the 23-year-old winger will slot into the lineup when the Canucks host the Dallas Stars on Thursday.
WATCH | Bains makes NHL debut
Bains played five games for the NHL team in February before being sent back to Abbotsford.
“He went down, he’s done a couple of things that we like, and he’s got some speed,” Tocchet said.
Vancouver may get another forward back in the lineup Thursday.
Dakota Joshua practised in a full-contact jersey on Wednesday for the first time since suffering an upper-body injury in Vancouver’s 4-2 win over the Blackhawks in Chicago on Feb. 13.
The physical winger, who’s set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, has a career-high 26 points (13 goals, 13 assists) this season.
Sitting out injured “hasn’t been fun,” Joshua said.
“It feels like forever,” he said. “But at this point, that’s behind me and I’m moving forward.”
Sports
Senators score 5 in 1st, cruise past Sabres – NHL.com
“I thought that we were ready to go,” Ottawa coach Jacques Martin said. “We got some pucks at the net, we got people at the net. Took advantage of our opportunities and, I think, built a nice lead. And then I thought, in the third period, we continued again. Our goaltending was good. Made some key saves. But I thought we shut them down in the third period good.”
Shane Pinto had a goal and three assists, and Brady Tkachuk, Boris Katchouk, Jakob Chychrun and Drake Batherson each had a goal and an assist for the Senators (31-36-4), who have won three in a row. Korpisalo made 34 saves.
“If you want to win, you need balance,” Pinto said. “And we had that tonight and it’s going to be big for the back-to-back tomorrow (against the Chicago Blackhawks) to have that same thing. So, going to need all the guys on board.”
JJ Peterka and Connor Clifton scored for the Sabres (34-34-5), who have lost four of six. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen allowed four goals on nine shots before he was replaced by Devon Levi, who made 31 saves in relief.
“We wanted, I guess, to play as individuals,” Clifton said. “I’m disappointed we let ‘Upie’ down, he’s the heart and soul of this team. He’s kept us in so many games, and just to not show up and play that careless style, give them freebies all over the place. … Yeah, obviously, the first 20 really dictated the rest of the game.”
Artem Zub gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead at 2:37 of the first period. He stuffed in a loose puck on the goal line after Katchouk’s shot was redirected by Mark Kastelic between Luukkonen’s pads.
Katchouk made it 2-0 at 4:56, tipping Parker Kelly’s shot from the top of the right face-off circle past Luukkonen.
“It’s keeping the consistency with good effort, right habits,” Katchouk said. “The small things matter so much in this game. And obviously, it worked out tonight with the tip. But kudos to my linemates. ‘Kels’ and ‘Kassy,’ they worked hard to get the puck as well. Those two battle hard every night as well. We feed off each other, and it’s good to play with them.”
Sports
Vasilevskiy stops 23 as surging Lightning beat Bruins – Sportsnet.ca
* public_profileBlurb *
* public_name *
* public_gender *
* public_birthdate *
* public_emailAddress *
* public_address *
* public_phoneNumber *
-
Business23 hours ago
Trump’s media company ticker leads to fleeting windfall for some investors
-
Media23 hours ago
Kate media frenzy and conspiracies: key takeaways
-
Art23 hours ago
New public art sculpture planned for Peachland
-
Art23 hours ago
‘Eye-wounding erection’: UK public art that is loved or hated
-
Investment23 hours ago
Amazon spends $2.75 billion on AI startup Anthropic in its largest venture investment yet
-
Politics20 hours ago
Alberta Politics: UCP ahead of NDP by 15-points. Naheed Nenshi is the most well-known and well-liked NDP.
-
Sports21 hours ago
Here’s what we know about the allegations against Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara
-
News20 hours ago
Canada to get ‘Renters’ Bill of Rights’: Justin Trudeau