Why I’m excited about the Colts this season

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It has been a rough few years for Indianapolis Colts fans. After a hot start to Andrew Luck’s career http://www.indianapoliscoltsteamonline.com/al-woods-jersey , the team has taken a pronounced step backward and has shown the symptoms of missing so badly in the draft, while simultaneously failing to adequately bolster the roster through free agency. The bulk of these symptoms are the result of philosophical and evaluative failures on the part of Ryan Grigson and his staff. When you throw in a shoulder injury Luck suffered three seasons ago, the severity of which no one really knew until he had surgery to repair a torn labrum in January, 2017, it is easy to understand how things turned south so quickly.To make mattes worse, the coaching staff failed to properly lead the team for many seasons. Despite back-to-back-to-back 11 win seasons and advancing further each year into the playoffs, one could argue that the former coaching staff peaked in Luck’s rookie year and gradually got worse until they were replaced following a disaster-filled 2017 season. Simply removing an ineffective coaching staff should give a strong reason to feel better about the future.What makes me excited about the 2018 season for the Indianapolis Colts is a perfect storm of circumstances that I feel could go a very long way in not only making Indy fun to watch this year, but also should help the team out-perform expectations. The three primary reasons I’m excited are; 1) Andrew Luck’s healthy return to the football field, 2) Frank Reich is an offensive minded coach who has worked with Peyton Manning, and who should have a postive influence on Luck’s development and 3) Reich is bringing an up-tempo, quicker release, no-huddle, aggressive offensive personality and play-style with him that should play to Luck’s strengths.I see a defense that will likely experience some growing pains, which will put pressure on the offense to do even more. This could create the kind of environment Luck needs to have the most productive year of his professional career. While there are questions about receivers not named Hilton and there is a committee approach to the backfield, the offensive line is going to be better than it has been at any point in Lucks’ career. I also see a more athletically gifted group of players on the offensive side of the ball. Jack Doyle is a steady security blanket for Luck but he is now going to line up across from Eric Ebron, whose physical gifts make him a potential x-factor. Running backs Marlon Mack, Jordan Wilkins http://www.indianapoliscoltsteamonline.com/adam-vinatieri-jersey , and Nyheim Hines are young and elusive enough to help improve production on the ground. They are fast enough to stretch the defense laterally, explosive enough to break big plays, and are able to line up in different formations to create match-up problems and open up areas of the field for their teammates.The timing nature of the offense should benefit players like Chester Rogers and Ryan Grant. Both are known for being disciplined route runners and have the greatest potential to be possession type players. In the previous offensive scheme, their inability ability to get over the top and run past defenders may have limited them. In this offense, discipline running routes and getting in and out of breaks should help them play a bigger role.Most importantly, Andrew Luck has looked very good in training camp. He has been throwing to all levels of the field and has been improving his timing with new teammates. An improved offensive line should mean that Luck will have an extra second or so to survey the field and get the ball out of his hands. The concept of Luck having another second in the pocket should excite any Colts fan. Throw in that he will be playing in an offensive scheme that will force defenses to play back on their heels and you can expect an offense that looks more like it did under Manning.Barring injuries to key players, this offense has a chance to be one of the best in the NFL. It has me excited to watch Colts football in 2018.Colts largely healthy, and need it going into Week 1 battle with Bengals The Indianapolis Colts have their hands full this Sunday in their season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals. A new scheme on both sides of the ball, new head coach, an even younger roster than a year ago, and they no longer have 7 of their top-10 most productive tacklers on the roster from 2017.Andrew Luck is back, and we should hold an elite quarterback to the standard that he can lead an inexperienced roster to a .500 record — give or take a game. Overall team health has been a real issue for the Colts over the past several seasons, but this season will be an extremely critical year for the team’s durability.The Colts have at least 19 rookies, or second-year players on their roster that should be expected to play large roles throughout the season. Aside from youth, they’ve still got some obvious holes at primary positions and without durability, this season could hit the skids in a heartbeat.Thus far, though http://www.indianapoliscoltsteamonline.com/rigoberto-sanchez-jersey , the Colts are largely healthy. The offensive line is a real point of interest because they’ve got more depth there in recent years. You can say the overall talent level is higher here, but if more injuries pop up it could get ugly pretty quickly. Denzelle Good is out for Week 1, but that’s it in terms of injury there. Braden Smith has some positional flexibility and that will go a long way with helping out, especially at right tackle where the jury is still very much out on the right side of the offensive line.Another spot where the Colts desperately need production from is the defensive line. Theoretically they’re deep, I suppose, and aside from rookie Tyquan Lewis who was placed on IR early this week, the rest of the group is pretty healthy.Kemoko Turay suffered some lengthy injuries in college, and was out for a bit through training camp, but his energy and burst will be heavily relied upon to give the Colts a pass rush presence off the edge. Otherwise we’re depending on Jabaal Sheard, Margus Hunt and Tarell Basham to boost this endeavor. The Colts don’t have room for injuries with this edge unit. Another youngster, Al-Quadin Muhammad, has been added to the group recently as well, but if this group doesn’t stay healthy, we’re likely looking to the practice squad for some help.Additionally, the Colts only have 4 true defensive tackles on the roster right now. Of course there will be fairly regular movement between these two positions, but a true rotation amongst Al Woods, Denico Autry Authentic Quenton Nelson Jersey , Grover Stewart and Hassan Ridgeway needs health in a big way to keep them fresh and generate some success.Can the Colts stop Joe Mixon, get to Andy Dalton or rein in A.J. Green and John Ross? The defense is mostly healthy, but they’ve got to stay that way throughout the game to have a chance.Other positions have similar situations on both sides of the ball for the Colts, but for Week 1 Anthony Castonzo and Marlon Mack are ‘questionable’ and that matters.They’ve both progressed nicely this week and other than Mack missing Wednesday’s practice, they were ‘limited’ for Thursday and Friday practices. If they both can’t go in the home opener, Le’Raven Clark likely starts at left tackle and Jordan Wilkins will act as the starter in place of Mack.That takes a big cut into what the Colts can reasonably expected to accomplish Sunday against a defensive line of Carlos Dunlap, Andrew Billings, Geno Atkins and Michael Johnson. And don’t mind the depth there with Jordan Willis, Carl Lawson, Sam Hubbard and Ryan Glasgow..Those “waves along the Colts front” Chris Ballard is hoping to build for the front seven on the Colts defense in the near future, will be staring right across the line of scrimmage at Andrew Luck Sunday. The Colts running game can’t afford to be trash if they hope for the offense to move the ball, and they’ll be similarly critical to keeping legitimate protection around their quarterback.Castonzo and Mack both play large roles in getting those two aspects to just a median level if we’re being honest. Otherwise, the Bengals’ defensive front might just feast on the Colts franchise passer.The Colts have a real challenge in Week 1, regardless of how the Bengals might be disrespected right now. They have real talent in all the right places, and the Colts need to have all hands on deck if they’re going to truly compete this week.
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