INDIANAPOLIS (7-9) at JACKSONVILLE (6-10)
Sunday, 1 p.m. EDT, CBS
OPENING LINE – Colts by 7
SERIES RECORD – Colts lead 24-14
LAST MEETING – Jaguars beat Colts 38-20 in Jacksonville on Dec. 29, 2019
COLTS OFFENSE – OVERALL (25), RUSH (7), PASS (30).
COLTS DEFENSE – OVERALL (16), RUSH (7), PASS (23).
JAGUARS OFFENSE – OVERALL (20), RUSH (17), PASS (16).
JAGUARS DEFENSE – OVERALL (24), RUSH (28), PASS (16).
STREAKS, STATS AND NOTES – One of three Week 1 rematches from 2019 regular-season finales. … One of two NFL games (Houston-Kansas City) that will include fans this week. … Colts lost five of their final six games in 2019 and have dropped four of the last six in this series. … Indy has lost six straight season openers and seven straight road games in Week 1. … Eight-time Pro Bowl QB Philip Rivers and Pro Bowl DT DeForest Buckner will make Indy debuts. … Rivers played previous 16 seasons with the San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers and beat the Colts on opening day last season. He needs three TD passes to become sixth player in league history with 400, one win to tie Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton (124) for No. 8. Rivers has had his way with Jacksonville, going 7-2 in nine starts and throwing for 2,668 yards with 24 touchdowns and five interceptions. He has 20 TDs and one pick in his last seven games against the Jaguars. He helped the Chargers top 30 points in six of his seven victories against Jacksonville. … WR T.Y. Hilton needs one TD catch to tie Dallas Clark (46) for sixth most in franchise history. … Third-year LB Darius Leonard needs 16 tackles to reach 300. … K Rodrigo Blankenship will become first rookie to kick in Colts opener since Mike Vanderjagt (from CFL) in 1998, and first college rookie since Raul Allegre in 1983. Blankenship was part of Georgia’s three consecutive wins over rival Florida in Jacksonville. … Jacksonville is 2-1 in openers under coach Doug Marrone. … Jaguars have 16 rookies, including four undrafted guys, on their initial 53-man roster. Undrafted rookie RB James Robinson is expected to start. … Gardner Minshew had more wins and the best QB rating (91.2) of all NFL rookies last season. He threw for 295 yards and three touchdowns in last year’s finale against the Colts. He now has two fired head coaches in his corner, with Ben McAdoo serving as his position coach and Jay Gruden as his offensive coordinator. Fantasy tip: Indy ran for nearly 400 yards combined in two games against Jacksonville last season, so RB tandem of Marlon Mack and rookie Jonathan Taylor should be a safe bet.
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