Sunday, November 01, 2020 Indianapolis Colts vs. Detroit Lions (NFL) 1:00 PM EST Indianapolis Colts Premium Pick Betcris Play Title: Mike's NFL Earlybird Dependable Play Selected: Money Line: -153 Rating: 8* (WIN) The Colts sit 4-2 SU & just 1 game behind the Tennessee Titans in the AFC South race. The key is they come off their bye week & got a chance to rest their main cog defensively in OLB Darius Leonard (back off of 2 games absent with a groin injury). He'll bolster the 2nd-overall ranked defense (3rd versus the run & 2nd versus the pass) in the NFL versus a Lions' offense who are a bottom 10 (23rd) despite pulling one out of the fire for us last week in Atlanta. The Indy has been very opportunistic thus far recording 13 sacks & picking off 10 passes from the opposition. On the Horseshoes' offensive side, QB Philip Rivers has struggled against top tier defenses in the past. However, today he'll face a Lions' "D" that's ranked 22nd overall & 20the versus the pass. The Colts front line has protected Rivers yielding just 6 sacks in 6 games. He's already proven he can go on the road versus the NFC North (beat the 5-2 SU Bears 19-11 in Wk. 4) & register the "W". Indy has been under-estimated by the odd-makers when playing the NFC where they sit a take-me-to-the-window 8-2-1 ATS. Digging deeper into the archives has revealed Matt Patricia as a literal no-show versus the number as he's gone a putrid 12-25-1! More recently, the Silver N' Blue have posted a 4-12 ATS numbers going back to last October. My bottom line says just because they see 2 wins in a row, the so-called Detroit backers of the week are ignoring the fact they're still 0-2 SU & ATS @ home thus far. In fact, the last 5 seasons when the Motor City Madmen come off 2 consecutive SU wins, they've come back to register a 2-6 SU record & a more-important 1-6-1 mark versus the number! QB Matt Stafford also supports our cause showing a 5-11-1 spread sheet off of back-to-back SU & ATS wins. The dagger for us has to be the Colts being a lights-out 12-1 SU when installed as road chalk versus the NFC. Look for Indy CB Xavier Rhodes to enlighten his defense on key Stafford tendencies since he played against him twice a year when with the Vikings. Let's stay indoors (another plus) @ Ford Field in Michigan as we take the INDIANAPOLIS COLTS for the "W" as my NFL Earlybird Dependable! NOTES: Things ran pretty smoothly from the 2nd quarter on for us as Indianapolis' RB tandem of Nyheim Hines (54 receiving yards & 2 TD receptions) & Jordan Wilkins (89 yards rushing) stepped in nicely for the injured Marlon Mack. The man behind center Philip Rivers didn't turn it over & threw for 262 yards & 3 TD's. LB Darius Leonard (1 sack, 7 tackles) back in the lineup seemed to juice up the defense as CB Kenny Moore II stepped in front of a Stafford pass & retuned it 29 yards for a TD giving Indy a 35-14 lead. Rivers is in his 17th season but still looks a tad durable as Charlie "Old Hoss" Radbourn did. For those non-baseball fans, Radbourne was a pitcher for the Providence Grays who set the record for most wins by a pitcher in 1 season with 60 wins (60-12). In 1884, he pitched a never-to-be-touched 678.2 innings, a 1.38 ERA, 11 shutouts along the way to 73 complete games in as many starts. Keep in mind they had a 3-man rotation & a 112-game regular season in those days. He actually pitched & won all 3 World Series games that year over the New York Metropolitans. Getting back to football, I'd like to thank all subscribers who believe in the system we're all enjoying immensely this season. I'll see you this week! Mike Handzelek's NFL Week 8 Record: 1-0 100% Mike Handzelek's 2020-21 NFL Overall Seasonal Record: 16-5 for 76% Mike Handzelek's 2020-21 CFB & NFL Combined Record: 28-13 for 68%
 

Click here to view all of Mike Handzelek 's premium picks.