Houston @ DENVER
DENVER -1 -108 over Houston

BEST LINES:  Pinnacle -1 -108 BET 365 -1 -110 SportsInteraction -110  5DIMES  -1 -110

Posted at 10:45 AM EST.

4:05 PM EST. The Texans stock is trending upwards after winning five straight games, but they've also played one of the weakest schedules in the league so forgive us if we can't get too excited about wins over Indianapolis, Dallas, Buffalo, Jacksonville and Miami, none of which have more wins than losses this season. That 42-23 drubbing of the Fish also came on a high profile edition of Thursday Night Football in which Miami was a popular pick in the market. A "zig-zag" for a market that got burned in that game would not be unexpected and we expect the Texans to get the lion's share of the action.

Revenge might be a dish best served cold, but for the pick sellers and pundits, that tired old angle is red hot after the Broncos traded wide receiver Demaryius Thomas to these Texans. The return for Thomas was pretty good all things considered (he and a seventh-round pick for a fourth and a seventh in return), as the five-time Pro Bowlers all-important cap number was set to jump to $17.5 million next season, which means if he wasn't traded, he was likely going to be cut. The market perception here is that the Broncos have mailed it in while the Texans have made a bold move to get the pass catcher they so desperately needed after Will Fuller went down, but the reality is, Thomas is a shell of his former self and his being traded was no surprise. The Broncos tried their best for weeks to showcase the receiver in hopes that someone would bite so they wouldn't have to make the unpopular move of cutting the second most productive wideout in franchise history this spring. Thomas is a rental at best, as the Texans aren't going to take his cap hit either.

It takes time for a quarterback and his receivers to gell and while Thomas and DeShaun Watson might find some chemistry, it's unlikely to happen here in the first week of that experiment. The pressure is also on Thomas to perform, as the Texans are in the playoff hunt, but asking him to have a huge game against the only team he's ever played for just five days after moving from to the visitor's locker room is a tall order. The Broncos are still one of the toughest outs in the league in their home barn and this one will be no different.

Did everyone forget what a big home field advantage the Broncos have had for decades? Houston might not even be a mid-rier team and now they're priced here like they're in the same company as the Steelers, Ravens and others?

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Our Pick

DENVER -1 -108 (Risking 2.16 units - To Win: 2.00)