Colts offence to fire

The NFL season got under way last weekend amid the usual fanfare and most of the fancied sides managed to start with a win. Each weekend, I will pick out one game for close scrutiny, and choose a few others that could hopefully put you on the right track.

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The Jacksonville Jaguars opened up with an impressive victory last weekend, beating the Seattle Seahawks 26-14 but they will be expecting a much tougher test this Sunday when they travel to meet the Indianapolis Colts. The Jaguars defence will be working overtime in training this week as they know they will be stretched to the limit by one of the NFL's leading offences, led by Peyton Manning. The Colts took their time to overcome a stubborn Baltimore Ravens defence in their first game of the season but they ran out comfortable winners and they should be all the sharper for the hard work.

Colts coach Tony Dungy, whose Superbowl hopes have been thwarted in recent times by those pesky New England Patriots, will have been doubly delighted by the performance of his defence last week. So often in the past few years it's been a case of if you score 20, we'll score 30, but they shut out the Ravens offence for three quarters and that bodes well for this year's tilt.

Manning would be great in most teams, but when he has Edgerrin James to get the hard yards from running back and the brilliance of wide receiver Marvin Harrison, then it is easy to see how they rip so many teams apart. They just have so many options that every team, and the Jaguars will be the same, often don't know which way to turn. The fact that Manning actually only threw for 254 yards last week may just spur him this week.

The Jaguars should be full of confidence after their win over Seattle and Byron Leftwich began the season well, throwing for more than 250 yards in the game. Fred Taylor averaged 3.5 yards on the ground in that game but it will be question of how much ball they get as Indianapolis are very good at controlling possession when they need to, therefore putting the opposition constantly on the back foot.

bet365 go 9/10 (1.90) that the Colts win by nine or more, and that looks fairly generous given the potency of their offence and the fact they are playing at home.

Other notable match-ups
Don't expect too much defence to be on show on Sunday when the Oakland Raiders take on the Kansas City Chiefs. Neither team is overly concerned with stopping anything but though the Chiefs are the more established offence of the two, the Raiders have an interesting look to them this season, with the signing of wide receiver Randy Moss already looking to have made a big difference. Oakland traditionally love to throw the ball and Moss is the idea receiver. With home advantage and a one-point start, bet365 make them 9/10 (1.90) which I would not put anyone off.

Expect Green Bay, 9/10 (1.90) giving up a 6.5-point start, to bounce back from an awful opening loss by beating the Cleveland Browns, while the Patriots look underpriced at just over 5/6 (1.86) to beat the Carolina Panthers, giving up just three points.

Please note that odds are correct at time of publication and are subject to change.