Rock Bottom: Colts Problems in 2011 Go Beyond Peyton Manning’s Injury
If anybody knew the Indianapolis Colts would be this bad in 2011, it’s safe to say the schedule makers would have thought twice before giving them three games in the national spotlight over the first seven weeks of the season. Unfortunately, there’s nothing they can do about it now.
Sunday’s embarrassing 62-7 loss to the New Orleans Saints is just one of many reasons as to why 2011 has been a season to forget for the Colts as they head into Week 8 still in search for their first win. Many blame the 0-7 start on Manning’s absence as he continues to recover from his neck injury, but it’s hard to put the blame fully on him considering he has nothing to do with defense or special teams.
The argument can be made that Indy could have easily won their previous five games prior to Week 7–especially since all five losses came by 10 points or less. The Colts led us to believe they may actually put up a good fight against the Saints since they performed very well in their first two appearances in the national spotlight against two very good teams in the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Obviously, that was far from the case as Indianapolis suffered one of their worst losses in franchise history after allowing New Orleans to score 62 points–48 of which came over the first three quarters. Even if Manning was healthy and in the lineup, the Colts would most likely still have at least three or four losses with the type of defense they have.
After Sunday’s loss, Indy’s streak of nine consecutive seasons with at least 10 wins will officially come to an end considering they can finish 9-7 at best–which obviously won’t happen. Everybody knew the Colts reign as the top team in the AFC South would be in jeopardy this season with Manning sidelined, but nobody could have predicted things to be this bad.
Just when it seems like things couldn’t get any worse for Indianapolis, Sunday night happens and this team is one of the biggest laughing stocks of the NFL. At this rate, the only thing the Colts and their fans have to look forward to this year is the possibility of having the worst record at the end of the season and receiving an opportunity to snag a quarterback in the 2012 NFL Draft that may turn out to be just as good as Manning–Andrew Luck.
Dan Parzych is the Lead NFL Content Editor for RantSports.com/NFL, where he writes and edits NFL content for RantSports.com.
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Email Dan: Dan.Parzych@RantSports.com
