Thursday Night Football betting preview: Best bet for Denver Broncos vs. Indianapolis Colts

It is time to begin the Week 5 slate with a Thursday Night Football contest.

Tonight’s battle between the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos certainly won’t be everyone’s favorite game this week, especially since both teams will be without their starting running backs. But it is a primetime game, which means we will all be watching on Amazon Prime because that is who we are.

I already gave out the under earlier this week, so I didn’t feel the need to go too crazy with the player prop market in this game. Remember to sign up with Caesars Sportsbook today to take advantage of their terrific new-user offer.

Player prop to target: Alec Pierce’s reception mark

I’m betting on the Colts’ rookie receiver to go over his reception total in tonight’s game. His over for 2.5 receptions is currently priced at -151 on Caesars Sportsbook, but you can get a much more enticing price of -130 at Fanduel Sportsbook right now.

The Colts drafted Alec Pierce with the 53rd overall pick in the second round after he produced at the collegiate level for Cincinnati. He has good foot quickness and good hands to go along with an above average route running ability, per this scouting report via Bleacher Report.

Pierce was a non-factor to start the season, but has been more involved over the last two weeks. He caught three balls (on five targets) for 61 yards in a win over the Chiefs in Week 3, following that up with four receptions (on six targets) for 80 yards against the Titans last weekend.

Pierce is still playing fewer than 50% of snaps, but he appears to be earning trust from Matt Ryan as evidenced by his growing target share. Pierce has been especially solid at finding an opening against zone coverage, which will be a common look given by the Broncos tonight.

The Colts won’t have running back Jonathan Taylor to lean on and might be playing from behind, if the spread is any indication of how this game will unfold. Because of all that, I like Pierce to be more involved and would even consider his yardage prop of 34.5 at Caesars Sportsbook.

But I’ll take the reception prop as my favorite bet instead.

Pick: Over 2.5 receptions for Alec Pierce (-130)