Could the Indianapolis Colts spring a surprise this season?
The Indianapolis Colts have missed the playoffs for the past three seasons and quarterback Andrew Luck wasn't relatively healthy for two of them. The Colts roster has been bad for the past couple of years and general Chris Ballard has overturned the roster a lot.
Indianapolis has a new head coach in town in Frank Reich. He was the Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator last season. New England Patriots' Josh McDaniels was supposed to be the new coach, but he backed out at the last second.
With Reich in town, the philosophy will be different. Because of that, can the Indianapolis Colts surprise people in 2018? The first thing that could make them surprise people is a favorable schedule for the first eight weeks of the NFL season. The only tough games they have are both on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots and Indianapolis will probably lose both of those games.
The first five-out-of-eight games are against non-playoff teams and they will have a quarterback advantage in five of those games. Andrew Luck is back healthy and that is a good thing for the Colts. He didn't look like he was in much pain. Luck completed 6-of-9 passes for 64 yards in the Colts' preseason game last week against the Seattle Seahawks on the road.
They upgraded the offensive line and the Colts have two good rookie running backs in Nyheim Hines and Jordan Wilkins.
The Colts' second-half schedule is brutal. They have the face the Jacksonville Jaguars twice, the Tennessee Titans, the Houston Texans, and an improved New York Giants football, and the Dallas Cowboys.
The problem with the Colts is they are still terrible on defense and the AFC South is tougher than it used to be. The Titans made the playoffs last season and having a new regime in place, the Jaguars reached the AFC Championship Game last season. On the other hand, the Texans have Deshaun Watson back and they are possibly the team to beat in the AFC South Division.
Indianapolis only won four games last season and they will win more games than that this season. The Colts will surprise people earlier on in the season, but then a tough second-half schedule will cause them to fall off. Having an 8-8 would be a good season for them.