Indianapolis at Denver

You can be sure that no team had a longer offseason than the Denver Broncos. Towards the end of last season they looked to be an unstoppable force on offense, while the defense was beginning to get better - all at the right time. Enter the Super Bowl, the Seattle defense, and it was over in 10 minutes. A final score of 43-8 has to sting and this team is just chomping at the bit to get back on the field in a meaningful game. Peyton Manning is the best regular-season quarterback ever and I expect him and the rest of this team to be ready and motivated for this one. They open the season at home and will field another team that has the caliber to win it all once again. Indianapolis has a huge problem as their defense may be one of the worst in the league. While NFL preseason games do not count, maybe that should be rethought as they certainly do matter. The last 57 teams that went winless in the preseason (Colts 0-4 this year) have seen 49 of the 57 miss the playoffs. If those winless teams won nine games or more in the previous season, they are 0-10 ATS in game one to start the season. Denver will be primed for redemption and have been lethal in the role of a home favorite in non-division games, logging a perfect 8-0 ATS mark in their last eight in this spot. They are also 21-9 ATS as a favorite the past two seasons including 16-5 ATS as a favorite of 3.5 to 9.5 points. All Denver in the opener.