Indianapolis at Seattle

So much for a great matchup. With Indy's loss last week, the luster on this game has has worn off quickly. It would have been a potential Super Bowl matchup but now Indy will rest starters. They'll likely see a half of play in this one as they have nothing to play for here of significance with home field in the playoffs wrapped up two weeks ago and the perfect season gone. This is the first game in about a year that the Colts are underdogs. The last? Late last season when they rested starters against Denver - a game they lost 34-10. Despite the fact that Indy will rest starters for a portion of the game, the fact remains that these are the two highest scoring teams in the NFL. And, Seattle will have no problem racking up points here given the opportunity. Matt Hasselbeck is the NFC's top passer and the last two weeks he has completed a ridiculous 81% of his passes on way to >500 yards and 7 touchdowns with one interception. And, oh yeah, the Seabags have Shaun Alexander who has already rushed for over 1600 yards and 24 touchdowns. Yowser! If anything is suspect for Seattle, it's their defense. Points-wise it's not bad at all. But, they haven't faced many high-powered offenses this year. To the contrary they faced Jacksonville, Philly, Dallas, and Arizona, Houston and San Francisco twice each. Safety Ken Hamlin is out for the season and this week cornerbacks Kelly Herndon and Andre Dyson will sit out. Seattle will likely attempt to mimic what San Diego did last week which is bring a lot of pressure on Manning. But, you can bet Dungy and Manning have worked on that this week and will have some surprises in store when the blitzes fly. Defensive gambling could lead to some big scoring plays for Indy. Seattle has gone over 9-4 this season while Indy is 6-3 OVER since Manning and the offense started clicking in week 6. Back to Hasselbeck's high completion performance: Indianapolis is 8-1 OVER vs. good passing teams with a completion pct. of 61% or better over the last 2 seasons. And, in regards to Alexander, the Colts are 11-1 OVER on the road versus good rushing teams that average > 4.5 rushing yards/carry since 1992. In non-conference games over the past two seasons, Seattle is 7-0 OVER and they are 14-5 OVER as a favorite of 3.5 to 9 over the same span. Two stars on this to go OVER.