Indianapolis Colts Team Capsule
What Went Right
Peyton Manning tossed 31 scores and accumulated just over 4,000 passing yards. Ho-hum. Just about the same as every other year for the Golden Boy. Reggie Wayne dominated to the tune of 1,500 yards and ten touchdowns. Dallas Clark also chipped in with 11 scores of his own. The running game wasn’t quite as fluid. Joseph Addai deserves some mention in this section because of his 1,000 yards and 15 total scores, but there is room for improvement.
What Went Wrong
Marvin Harrison went all sorts of wrong. He only appeared in five games due to injury and was pedestrian in those contests. One score in five games is just brutal for someone taken as a top wide out. Other than that, nothing really went “wrong” in the strict sense. Anthony Gonzalez had a steep learning curve and only contributed late in the year. Addai only had four 100-yard games and a disappointing 4.1 yards per carry average. It appeared as though he wore down late in the season, which is troubling since he only received 260 carries — a decent total, but nowhere near a caution area for workhorse backs.
Off-season Outlook
The Colts did absolutely nothing to improve their offense through free agency. Instead, let’s all read up on how to ensure we can finagle 12 hours of television time each Sunday without breaking up marriages and serious relationships! Yes, it’s important.
Draft Recap
The Colts went ahead and drafted Mike Pollak, a centre with Arizona State. He has a chance to win a starting job at guard, but the impact players on the Colts, like most of the teams at the top of the league, are already around. They used the draft to stock up some depth along the line and at tight end.
State of the Team
Quarterbacks – Manning. Yawn.
Running Backs – Addai is getting a lot of pre-season hype as a top five, or god help us, a top three back. We worry that he doesn’t quite have that pedigree yet. He’s not the top offensive option for the Colts, obviously, and that makes for some rough games. Yes, he’ll have his share of monster games, but a lot of worthless ones as well.
Wide Receivers – Wayne is an obvious stud and Harrison will still get love on draft day, but Gonzalez is the most interesting wide out for Indy. Over the last five weeks of the season, he had two 100-yard games and three scores. If and when Harrison falters, Gonzalez will pick up the slack and makes for a nice late sleeper pick.
Tight Ends – Clark. Yawn.
Defense/Special Teams – We’re almost ready to be done with the Colt defense. Dwight Freeney was limited to doing spin moves on the sideline for about half the season. The lack of pressure up front (the Colts tied for 26th in sacks) hurt the entire defense. If Freeney comes back healthy, great, but we’re not sold on that.
