Colts-Buccaneers odds: Colts come out of the bye as 1.5-point favorites

The Indianapolis Colts return from their bye week to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Lucas Oil Stadium. These teams last met in 2019 with the Colts losing a shoot-out against the Tom Brady led team. The days of Brady are gone, so the Colts will look to get back on the winning side of this matchup on Sunday. DraftKings Sportsbook has this contest, like so many for the Colts this year, as a tight one. The Colts are favored to win by 1.5 points.

The current money line sits at -125 with the over/under at 42.5.

The Colts are coming off the bye week in a season that may have just been saved with two straight road wins. Sitting at 3-5, the season was at a tipping point. Now, at 5-5, the season is at a turning point. The Colts were able to climb back to .500 against their rival, the New England Patriots in Germany. They slugged out an ugly 10-6 win in which the offense couldn’t put much together. Luckily, the defense came to play as they turned over the Patriots twice, both at critical times in the game. The Colts will need to tighten up their run defense this week, however, as the Patriots ran at will through the soft underbelly of the defense.

Meanwhile, the Buccaneers traveled to take on the suddenly struggling San Francisco 49ers. Baker Mayfield threw the ball 45 times as the Buccaneers played catch-up the majority of the game being down as much as 7-27 late in the third quarter. After starting the season 3-1, the Buccaneers have struggled as of late, losing 5 out of their last 6. They will look to right the ship against a rested and ready Colts team.

To have a real shot at making the 2023 season a success, neither team can truly afford to lose this week. The Colts sit in 9th in the AFC and the Buccaneers in 11th although they hold an identical record to that of three other teams, putting them closer to 8th. Anticipate a close game, but believe that the Colts can pull it out. Coming off a bye at home should hold enough of an advantage to get the job done.