Both the Jacksonville Jaguars and Indianapolis Colts head into the weekend unsure of what they’re playing for, but both will want to defeat their rival when they meet on Sunday.
The Colts could be playing for their playoff lives if certain results go their way Saturday, and have won six of the last seven meetings in Indianapolis, but the Jaguars are red-hot, thanks to Trevor Lawrence playing the best ball of his NFL career.
Keep reading for my Jaguars vs. Colts predictions and NFL picks below.
Jaguars vs Colts props
| Player | Pick |  |
|---|---|---|
 Parker Washington |
Longest reception Over 19.5 yards | -135 |
| Brenton Strange |
Anytime touchdown | +210 |
 Michael Pittman |
Under 44.5 receiving yards | -114 |
Prop bet #1: Parker Washington longest reception Over 19.5 yards
The Jacksonville Jaguars call him Parker “Down there somewhere” Washington for a reason.
Parker Washington has turned into a big-play receiver for this Jaguars offense, and last week he had nine targets, which led to 145 yards on six catches. Since the bye week, he’s averaging four catches and 62.6 yards per game.
Washington missed the Week 14 game with the Indianapolis Colts after suffering a hip injury in the first half of the week before.
But before the injury, Washington had already snagged one ball for 26 yards. It’s why the receiver now has four straight games with a catch of at least 25 yards, and a 20+ yard catch in six of his last eight games.
And over his last four games, Washington has notched no worse than 2.17 yards per route run. He’s also posting an average depth of target north of 15 yards in those outings.
The Colts allowed four different 49ers to haul in catches of 20+ yards last week. Not even the return of Sauce Gardner will fix that. With Brian Thomas Jr. and Jakobi Meyers drawing so much attention, look for T-Law to find his big-play target once more.
Prop bet #2: Brenton Strange anytime touchdown
Brenton Strange’s return to the offense was massive both in terms of giving Lawrence a safety valve and what he brings as perhaps the best run-blocking tight end in the NFL, but he’s also become a serious red-zone threat of late.
His three red-zone targets against the Broncos led the team and put him at seven over the past three games. To put that in perspective, Lawrence has targeted his receivers a total of 16 times in that same timeframe.
Strange found the end zone last week, where he caught five passes from a season-high seven targets. He also ran 32 routes, the second-most of the season, and is facing a Colts defense that allows the fifth-most catches and second-most yards to tight ends in the NFL.
Taking the Over for Strange on both his receptions and yards is a safer play, but I think this is a spot where he’s got strong odds to find paydirt again. With how badly the Colts are playing against tight ends, a price of +210 is one I’m not passing up.
Prop bet #3: Michael Pittman Jr. Under 44.5 receiving yards
When the Jaguars defeated the Colts a few weeks ago, Michael Pittman Jr. had a strong day. He caught nine of 12 targets for 79 yards, registering 2.26 yards per route run.
That performance was an outlier for the receiver over his last six games. In the other five contests, he’s managed just 117 yards on 15 catches. And since Rivers took over, Pittman has seen only 10 targets from 64 routes run, leading to seven catches for 58 yards.
Rivers has completed just 10 of his 24 throws beyond 10 yards so far, and Pittman’s average depth of target with the aging quarterback shows he’s trying to connect with him further downfield than most other receivers.
Their chemistry simply hasn’t been there, and Jacksonville’s dangerous pass rush is going to lead both to shorter throws and uncomfortable throws downfield. I don’t see him repeating his performance from the first matchup, where he looked much more in sync with Riley Leonard.
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