Saturday, September 1, 2012

Good Luck: Indianapolis Colts Season Preview



2011 Record: 2-14


2011 Ranks
Total Offense: 30
Rush Offense: 26
Pass Offense: 27
Scoring Offense: 28
Total Defense: 25
Run Defense: 29
Pass Defense: 15
Scoring Defense: 28

Offense

The Colts parlayed their first Manning-less season since 1997 into the #1 overall pick to take Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck. Luck has been just as good as advertised in the preseason. The Colts also brought in long time Steelers fan favorite Bruce Arians to be their offensive coordinator. It remains to be seen how many times Luck will get sacked or if their red zone offense will be just as futile.

Defense

New head coach Chuck Pagano is slowly transitioning the Colts from a 4-3 to a 3-4 scheme. In Baltimore, Pagano ran a 3-4/4-3 hybrid scheme and it seems like the Colts will run something similar this year with Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis switching between DE and OLB spots. The biggest liability is in the secondary, where the Colts have a bunch of no-name guys in the secondary. They made a trade to bring in Vontae Davis to give them someone that could maybe cover in the secondary, but on the whole this unit is a huge liability.

Intangibles

It's Andrew Luck's show now and this is clearly a rebuilding year for the Colts.

Prediction

No running game, no defense, Bruce Arians offense. Even if Andrew Luck has the best rookie season ever, the Colts will still struggle to win games because of their lack of defense. 5-11.

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