The Indianapolis Colts finished the 2010 regular season with a 10-6 record. They were hampered by age, injuries, and a defense that was not up to snuff. They also lost to the Houston Texans and the Jacksonville Jaguars so we may be seeing a shift in power in the AFC South. They also lost a home playoff game, and that of course leads us back to the Peyton cannot win the big game thoughts. Personally I thought they were a lot better than this, but hey that is why the actually play the games.
The offense scored 435 points or 27.2 points per game and that was the 4th best number of the 32 NFL teams. Peyton runs this offense, and he completed 66.3% of his passes for 4,700 yards, 33 TD’s and 17 INT’s. All in all pretty good numbers. Peyton was sacked 16 times, and the running game behind averaged 92.7 rushing yards per game. So there could be issues on the O Line, but all in all the offense is not what concerns me about this team.
The defense on the other hand gave up 388 points, or 24.2 points per game on average. In terms of team defense they ranked mostly in the bottom half of the key team defensive stats. Their take away differential was -4 and that is not good since this offense doesn’t exactly give up the ball all that much. They did force just 12 fumbles and pick off just 10 passes. Those numbers are way to low.
Cleary this team has issues on the defense, and I think that is where they should start to improve, but the running game is not what it needs to be even with Peyton back there calling the shots. They may be seeing their championship window closing, as Peyton and the core of this team are hardly spring chickens.
Related Links:
- Indianapolis Colts news and notes
- The Business of the NFL
- Joshua Lobdell.com