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Published: July 24, 2010
The Indianapolis Colts in the 2009 regular season finished with a regular season record of 14-2 and were winners of the AFC South.
The team began the season at 14-0 and flirted with a perfect 16-0 record before resting players in week 15 and tossing away a possible historic undefeated season.
The Colts began the post season with the 20-3 victory in the AFC Divisional playoffs and a week later eliminated the New York Jets at home 30-17 in the AFC Championship.
The Colts faced the New Orleans Saints in the Super Bowl but lost 31-17 after a Peyton Manning fourth quarter pass went the other way for the Saints touchdown.
Peyton Manning had another outstanding season finishing with 21 touchdowns and 10 interceptions to the lead the 2nd ranked passing attack in the NFL.
Manning will welcome back to his lineup wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez who missed most of the 2009 season due to injury.
Once again the Colts were a poor running team averaging just 3.5 yards per carry and finishing 32nd in the league with an 80.9 yards per game average.
Defensively the club ranked 18th in the league in total defense allowing 339.2 yards per game. Opposing teams averaged 18.8 points per game against them ranking 8th in the league. The team is hoping for better fortune for Bob Sanders who missed 17 of the teams 19 games last season.
To help stop the run the club drafted defenders in the first two round by taking Jerry Hughes in the first round from TCU and Pat Angerer from Iowa.
The Odds:
Bodog sports book has set the season win total for the 2010 Indianapolis Colts at 11 wins with under favored at -135 and the over bringing back +105.
Indy has been lined by Bodog at 9-1 odds to win the 2010 Super Bowl.
Bodog has the Colts at 4-1 to win the AFC Championship and are -160 favorites to win the AFC South division.
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2010 Indianapolis Colts Regular Season Schedule:
The Colts compete in the AFC South division so they will have home and away games against the Tennessee Titans, Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texas.
The AFC South will play against the AFC West and NFC East in 2010.
The clubs games against the AFC West will be home games to the Kansas City Chiefs and San Diego Chargers with road outings to the Oakland Raiders and Denver Broncos.
Indy’s NFC East games will be home to the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys with road games at the Washington Redskins and Philadelphia Eagles.
With their first place finish in the AFC South in 2009 the team will compete against the two other first place AFC teams so that brings a home game against the Cincinnati Bengals and a road game to the New England Patriots.
The Colts will be featured in 5 prime time telecasts in the upcoming season.
The team will host the Houston Texans on Monday Night Football and the New York Giants and San Diego Chargers on Sunday night football.
Indy hit’s the highway in primetime against the Washington Redskins on Sunday Night Football. They will travel in a special edition Thursday Night game at the Tennessee Titans on NFL Network.
The club will be well tested in weeks 11-13 with games at New England then home to San Diego and Dallas.
Offense:
Peyton Manning had another tremendous season passing for 4500 yards and hitting on 68.8% of his passes with 33 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. The 34 year old has not missed a game in his entire career and have never been lower than 62.5% completion percentage for this century.
As always Colts fans always hold their breath because there is never much behind him. Jim Sorgi was lost in the off season and second year quarterback Curtis Painter will back up. Painter was awful filling in for Manning in spots during the latter part of the year completing just 28.6% of his passes with 0 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.
The running game was very poor for the Colts a season ago as they produced just 3.5 yards a carry last season. Joseph Addai returns for his fifth season and is coming off a year where he produced just 828 yards on 219 carries for a 3.8 yards a carry average. He does contribute quite a bit out of the backfield with 51 receptions in 2009 with 3 touchdowns and a 6.6 yards per reception average.
Second year back Donald Brown will continue to serve as the backup. In 78 carries in his rookie season he produced just a 3.6 yards per carry average.
Three year veteran Mike Hart out of Michigan will serve as the third string and got very little work in 2009 with 27 carries. In the snow game in week 17 against Buffalo he only produced 28 yards on 10 carries so he may be playing for a job in the preseason.
Peyton Manning has great weapons to throw to in the receiver and tight end positions. The veteran Reggie Wayne and Anthony Gonzalez are the #1 and #2 weapons with Austin Collie and Pierre Garcon the outstanding #3 and #4 options. Wayne led the receivers with 100 catches last season with a 12.6 yards per reception average and 10 touchdowns. Garcon was the big play guy with 16.3 yards a catch on 47 receptions. Anthony Gonzalez left game 1 in 2009 with a knee injury and never made it back to the season. Gonzalez’ sprained PCL is healed as the receiver was able to run at full speed prior to the start of camp.
Tight end Dallas Clark had an outstanding 2009 year with 100 catches and 10 touchdowns with an 11.1 yards per catch average.
The Colts offensive line will shape up with longtime center Jeff Saturday with guards Mike Pollak and Kyle Devan at guards. The tackles are Charlie Johnson and Ryan Diem.
The Colts allowed only 11 sacks leading the league last season. Guard Andy Alleman was signed in free agency from Kansas City. The team overhauled their guard position as Ryan Lilja was released. Their will be heated competition at both starting guard positions as the club looks to improve their running game and especially on short yardage situations.
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Defense:
The Colts run a 4-3 defense with the veterans Robert Mathis and Dwight Freeney at the end positions with Antonio Johnson and Daniel Muir inside. The team is hoping for good health for Mathis and Freeney who have battled various injury problems the past few years.
The team had 34 sacks in 2009 sitting in the middle of the league with Freeney leading the team with 13 ½ and Mathis second at 9 ½. The team added help to their outside rushing attack as first round pick Jerry Hughes from TCU will shift from outside linebacker in college to the defensive end position to relieve Mathis and Freeney.
The linebackers are Gary Brackett in the middle with Clint Session and Phillip Wheeler on the outsides. Paul Angerer was drafted in the second round from Iowa to help provide the team with depth.
In the secondary position the Colts will feature Kelvin Hayden and Jerraud Powers at the corners with Bob Sanders and Antoine Bethea as safeties. Cornerback Kevin Thomas was drafted in the third round from USC to give the team backup depth.
Sanders is a pro bowler when healthy. But the safety has missed 24 of the teams past 32 regular season games due to injury. He has been fighting knee, bicep and shoulder issues and as training camp opens their has been speculation whether he will ever again make it to the playing field for the Colts. The Colts did not retain cornerbacks Marlin Jackson and Tim Jennings losing the duo in free agency so the club looks thin behind its starters.
And now to my Selection:
With a healthy Anthony Gonzalez in the fold for the Colts the club will be very difficult to defend. They vied for a perfect season a year ago winning 14 straight and have the ability to do this again.
The Colts were able to achieve their win streak with Bob Sanders missing 14 regular season games. Robert Mathis and Dwight Freeney still are one of the best 1-2 outside rushers in a 4-3 in this league. The Colts have won 12 or more games in seven straight campaigns during the regular season and in 2010 they run this streak to eight.
Selection: Play Over 11 wins in 2010 Regular Season.
