Dr. Bob Previews COLTS (-10.5) Vs. SEAHAWKS

INDIANAPOLIS (-10.5) 31 Seattle 16

Over/Under Total: 44.0

10:00 AM Pacific Time Sunday, Oct-04

Peyton Manning has been in top form so far this season, averaging an incredible 9.9 yards per pass play while the offense is on a 7.4 yards per play pace. Manning is not going to continue averaging 14.9 yards per completion (his lifetime average is 11.9 ypc and his single season high is 13.1 ypc) so his numbers going forward won't be as good, but he could be on his way to his best season ever with new blood at the receiver position now that over the hill Marvin Harrison is gone (Manning continued to throw him the ball too much in recent years even when his yards per attempt to Harrison was down).

The Colts are also playing good defense (allowing 4.6 yppl to teams that would combine to average 5.3 ypl against an average team) and they'll be too much for a mediocre Seahawks team that is worse than average offensively with backup Seneca Wallace at quarterback and also a bit worse than average on defense.

My ratings favor the Colts by 15 points even after docking them 2 points for injuries to star DE Dwight Freeney, starting CB Kelvin Hayden, and LB Garry Brackett.

Hayden and Brackett both missed last week's game and the Colts were able to hold Arizona's good offense to just 4.6 yppl, but losing Freeney (4 sacks already) is worth about 1 1/2 points.

Even so, the Colts should have no problem beating Seattle and I'll consider Indianapolis a Strong Opinion if the line goes down to -10 points or less.

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