Colts vs. Texans NFL Week 1 odds, betting trends: Rookie Dameon Pierce taking heaviest prop action of any player for Sunday's games

Fairly recently in this space, we wrote that Houston Texans fourth-round running back Dameon Pierce was taking the second-most action overall at Caesars Sportsbook to win NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and was up to a +1300 fourth favorite. The money has kept flowing as Pierce is now a +1000 second favorite. In addition, no player prop at the book for Sunday's Week 1 games has taken more action as of this writing than Pierce going Over his rushing yardage total against the Indianapolis Colts.

Pierce, who started training camp third on the Houston running back depth chart but is now the clear-cut No. 1, opened at 41.5 rushing yards against Indy but has been bet up to 46.5 yards, with the Over a -137 favorite. During the preseason, Pierce rushed for 86 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries and sat out one game. He's +165 to score a TD on Sunday. The SportsLine Projection Model forecasts Pierce for 11.7 carries, 51 yards and 0.37 TDs.

Last season splitting carries between the likes of Rex Burkhead (the No. 2 this season), Mark Ingram, Duke Johnson, Philip Lindsay and Royce Freeman, the Texans were the NFL's worst rushing offense at 83.6 yards per game and 3.4 yards per carry. In 13 of the team's 17 games, its leading rusher did not top 46.5 yards. The team had a single 100-yard game: Burkhead with 149 against the Chargers.

Indianapolis was good against the run in 2021, allowing 109.1 yards per game. The heart and soul of that defense, Pro Bowl linebacker Shaquille (Darius) Leonard, is tracking to play Week 1. That was in question not long ago as Leonard missed all of camp following ankle surgery, but he was a full participant at practice on Wednesday. His status will be made official after Friday's final practice.

"He's been cleared so he can do everything he needs to do, but he's far from 100 percent. But that's okay. He can play at 80 percent. That's kind of a number I have in my mind," Coach Frank Reich said.

The Colts beat the Texans by scores of 31-3 and 31-0 last year, the first time the franchise had beaten one opponent by 28-plus points twice in same the season. Reigning NFL rushing champion Jonathan Taylor had games of 145 and 143 yards, rushing with two TDs in each. He became the first Colts player with at least 280 rushing yards and at least four rushing TDs vs. one opponent in a season. Taylor is set at over/under 96.5 yards Sunday. His price to score a TD is a ridiculous -340.

Indianapolis has lost eight straight season openers, the longest streak in the NFL – but Matt Ryan wasn't the team's quarterback for any of those. Ryan is the sixth different season-opening quarterback for the franchise in the past six years. 

Which Fantasy Football sleepers, breakouts and busts should you target and fade? And which QB shocks the NFL with a top-five performance? Join SportsLine now to get Fantasy Football cheat sheets for every single position, all from the model that called Jonathan Taylor's huge season, and find out.