Colts Mini-Mock
 

I was thinking about what the Colts might end up with, and we'd have to face 2 times per season.

1. DT Peria Jerry
2. DT Sen'Derrick Marks
3. RB Cedrick Peerman
4. WR Kenny McKinley
5. LB Jason Williams
6. TE John Phillips
7. CB Don Carey

Ouch!

Wouldn't Jerry have to lose like 40 lbs before those cover 2 crazies let him on the field. It's amazing how small their DL has been the past 4 season or so.

I think the Colts are trending down pretty significantly. Obviously, Polian is excellent and Manning is still a great QB but I think the team's gotten a little old, especially at OLine. It also appears that Caldwell is looking to make significant changes in defensive philosophy. I really think they are the 3rd best team in the division though it's still hard to convince myself that we can actually beat those guys sometimes.

We've beat them once in 7 years, or in 1 out of 14 attempts, while we've got to regularly split the 2 annual games with them in the future to have a reasonable chance of getting into the playoffs. So a lot of improvement needed here.
But as long as Peyton Manning is playing and playing as well as he is, I'd not discount the Colts one bit. In other words we're the 3rd best team (at best) in the division until we prove different.

There are several players that scream Colts to me.

Max Unger Oregon OC OG
Evander Hood Missouri DT43 DE34
Brian Robiskie Ohio State WRF
Juaquin Iglesias Oklahoma WRF
Chase Coffman Missouri TE
Jamon Meredith South Carolina O
James Casey Rice TE T OG
Jonathan Luigs Arkansas OC
Sen'Derrick Marks Auburn DT43
Andy Levitre Oregon State OG
Trevor Canfield Cincinnati OG
Travis Beckum Wisconsin TE
Nic Harris Oklahoma SS
Alex Magee Purdue DT43 DE34
Jarett Dillard Rice WRF
Emanuel Cook South Carolina SS
Knowshon Moreno, RB, Georgia
Eben Britton, OT, Arizona
Alex Mack, OC, California

Those are your words. Mine are quite different. I don't think that our record against Indy in 2004 has anything to do with assessing which is the better team now. I just don't care about the accumulated head to head record when I'm assessing the current state of a franchise. Now, in regards to my emotional state as a fan, those losses in '04, '05, and certainly in '08 have a significant effect.

Peyton still scares me to and certainly a great QB makes a team dangerous, even if the talent around him is slipping some. That being said, the combination of an inability to stop the run, an inability to run the ball, and a growing lack of speed on offense has weakened them. I think they are an above average NFL team right now- and a team that is aging and undergoing a lot of changes.