We are down to the Final Four, NFL style.
It’s quite a field that remains in running to reach Super Bowl XLIX in Glendale, Arizona. There’s no franchise looking for its first league championship and all of these clubs have been to the Super Bowl once since 2009.
So who gets back in 2014? We’ll give you the good news and bad news for each of the remaining contenders, with their chances as well.
We’ve already taken a look at the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks.
Next up are the Indianapolis Colts.
The Good News:
That dreadful defense that we saw most of the season from the Colts has indeed made an about face, at least in recent weeks and most notably during the playoffs.
After being embarrassed at Dallas in Week 16 by a 42-7 count, Chuck Pagano’s squad has buckled down and allowed a total of 33 points in victories over the Tennessee Titans (27-10), Cincinnati Bengals (26-10) and Denver Broncos (24-13)—the latter two contests in the postseason. Over that stretch, the Colts have allowed only three touchdowns, one in each game.
But the real eye-popping numbers have come in the playoff wins over the Bengals and Broncos. In those contests, Indianapolis has allowed a total of 23 points, a tad under their regular-season average of a game (23.1). Pagano’s team has totaled a combined five sacks and not allowed a touchdown in the final three quarters of each victory.
While the team’s rushing defense has still shown some cracks, the Colts did hold Denver to 88 yards on the ground. Entering that contest, the Broncos had averaged nearly 148 yards per game rushing in their previous six contests.
By now, you’ve heard about all the numbers but are still worth repeating. In the last two meetings with the Patriots, Indianapolis defenders have allowed 480 yards rushing on 90 attempts while New England has run for 10 touchdowns.
Will the Colts be up to the challenge?
The Bad News:
Including playoffs, Colts quarterback Andrew Luck will be squaring off against the Pats for the fourth time this Sunday.
He hasn’t had much luck in this series to date. Indianapolis is 0-3 and their talented signal-caller has had his issues. While he’s thrown for at least 300 yards in each game, those 968 yards have resulted in six scores and eight interceptions (two returned for touchdowns). Luck has also been sacked five times and lost a fumble while his team has been outscored a combined 144-66 in those setbacks.
This season, the turnover bug continues to be a thorn in the young quarterback’s side. Luck led the NFL with a career-high 40 touchdown passes but also committed 22 turnovers—five of those returned for touchdowns. While he played a clean game against the Bengals, he threw for a pair of scores but was also picked off twice in the victory at Denver. Fortunately for the Colts, they held the Broncos to a field goal after each of Luck’s miscues.
The third-year performer will have to be very careful against a New England defense that will make you pay for your mistakes.
Synopsis:
While the Indianapolis defense has been a lot better in recent weeks (shades of the team’s 2006 postseason when a problem area suddenly became a strength and helped lead to a Super Bowl title), this is more about the matchup with the Patriots and less about current events. New England’s offensive line appears to be the superior unit and the Colts will have to hope they can force some turnovers in an attempt to slow down Tom Brady and company. And that’s a lot easier said than done.