Indianapolis Colts

Brett Davis – USA Today Sports Images The Indianapolis Colts were arguably the most inspired team in the NFL in the 2012 season as they were playing for their head coach Chuck Pagano, who was diagnosed with cancer, and behind the #Chuckstrong campaign. That coupled with the great season from rookie quarterback Andrew Luck led the Colts, surprisingly, to the NFL Playoffs. Now the Colts are looking to build off that success and avoid a season of regression that many people are predicting them to have. They will need their offensive line to improve, Luck to continue to develop and grow as a pro quarterback and avoid a sophomore slump, and for their young receivers to be able to help Reggie Wayne shoulder the load. One player to watch in terms of the Colts’ wide receivers is 23-year-old T.Y. Hilton. The little known Hilton proved himself as a big playmaker for Indianapolis last season. In 15 games, he garnered 50 receptions on 91 targets for 861 yards and seven touchdowns. 30 of his 50 receptions also went for a first down and the Colts looked to him more and more as the season progressed. For the 2013 season, Hilton is likely to see his targets increase from last season. In terms of percentage of targets in 2012, Hilton ranked third on the Colts behind Wayne and Donnie Avery. With Avery no longer being on the team, though, that’s likely to put Hilton in the number two receiver spot, unless the team wants to continue to work him in the slot. Regardless, he’s likely going to see a lot more balls coming his way. Hilton has elite-level speed and is hard to catch in the open field. However, he also has solid hands and runs good routes for a big-play, speed receiver. Though he’s still young and has the potential to slump this year, expect Hilton to continue making big plays for the pass-heavy Colts and to have another impressive season. Cody Williams is a Senior Writer with Rant Sports. Follow Cody on Twitter @TheSizzle20 and like his Facebook page.

The work may slow down in the offseason for the Indianapolis Colts, but it never stops. As the temperature rises outside, the offseason efforts keep on rolling in the NFL. In the past month since the 2013 NFL Draft, the Colts have welcomed in their rookie class, and have gotten them on the field for a rookie minicamp. They have spent time getting their new blood acclimated to their new surroundings and system, and have also signed quite a few of them to their first pro contract. Veteran players have been in and out of the weight and practice rooms throughout the offseason, and now things for the near future are beginning to take shape. Colts players, both new and veteran, are now getting ready for Organized Team Activities (OTAs). The competition will start amping up, as will the drills and the action on the field. Players will not be in pads, but will be wearing their helmets and shorts. These OTAs will mark the first time that the offense and defense will be able to mix it up together. There will be ten OTA practices, putting over 70 players into the process of building the Indianapolis Colts for 2013.

Any news on Werner's contract? I read somewhere it was just a language issue - I seem to remember there was a similar problem with Lucks contract last year. Is there a good web site that is tracking unsigned draft picks for all of the teams? I am not sure how important the OTAs are but I would assume any rookie would want every minute of coaching and practice to show their teammates what they bring to the game? Is this going to hurt Werner's chances of significant playing time? Any news on Werner's contract? I read somewhere it was just a language issue - I seem to remember there was a similar problem with Lucks contract last year. Is there a good web site that is tracking unsigned draft picks for all of the teams? I am not sure how important the OTAs are but I would assume any rookie would want every minute of coaching and practice to show their teammates what they bring to the game? Is this going to hurt Werner's chances of significant playing time?

The speculation about who will host Super Bowl LII already has begun. Will it be New Orleans, Denver or can Indianapolis make a surprise run?

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Barring the unexpected, city officials will accelerate their push to bring Super Bowl LII to Indianapolis in February 2018.

I starting doing the research on the starting AFC South Running backs: Chris Johnson, Arian Foster, Maurice Jones-Drew and Vick Ballard and I wanted to compare their on field production. This article will point out a variety of statistics as I don't have the time to watch every snap. I know stats don't always tell the whole truth. But a reoccurring trend occurs, which may suggest the NFL community has been underrating one RB in the AFC South. Before I look at stats though, let's see how Matt Miller ranked the RBs: At 54, Vick Ballard, with a grade of 69/100. Maurice Jones-Drew received a 83/100 grade, ranking 14. Chris Johnson was ranked at 12th best, and scored 83/100 too. And the winner here was Foster, ranking 9th overall and scored 85/100. So, yeah, that is what Miller thinks after looking at the tape. So, without further ado, I will analyze the various stats and declare who I believe the RB in the AFC South I'd want on my team. NFL.COM STATS Arian Foster kills it here. A staggering 1,424 yards, 15 rush TDs, 4.1 yards rushing average, 2 receiving TDs and only 1 fumble per 130 touches (130.333 to be more precise). Chris Johnson too had big plays. 1,243 yards rush yards, 6TD- including a 94 yard TD home run, 4.5 rushing yards average and fumbled every 62.4 carries. Jones-Drew was largely inactive last year, but hey, durability is a major determinant in being a top player. To be a little fair towards him, i'll average out his 2011 and 2012 stats here: 1010 yrds/yr, 4.71/carry and an average of 6.5 total TDS/yr. Finally, Vick Ballard had 3 total TDs, 3.9 yards/carry and 814 rushing yards (8.9 yrds/reception too: the most of the AFC South RBs). All in all, it seems Foster or Johnson wins these statistics. Moving on.. FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS Foster too wins here, receiving a Defense-adjusted Yards Above Replacement score ("DYAR means a running back with more total value") of 105 (he ranked 20th/play), ranking 13th of the 42 players that had 100+ carries. Ballard had 10 DYAR value (he ranked 27th/play- fairly close to Foster's rank), ranking 27th/42 overall. CJ had a disappointing -30 grade, 33rd/42 overall (he ranked 32nd/play). Jones-Drew qualified for another group (the 20-99 rushing category), scoring a DYAR of 27. Of the three AFC South rushers that qualified in the 100+ carries category, Vick Ballard had the best Success Rate (representing consistency) at 48% (10% lower than McGahee, who was ranked #1 in this category). Foster's success rate was close to Ballard's at 47% and CJ disappointed again, as his 41% ranked 38/42 of those who qualified. Lastly, the Effective Yards, which is "DVOA into a yards per attempt figure.... players with more Effective Yards than standard yards played better than standard stats would otherwise indicate"). Foster had a monster 1461 EYards (approximately 40 more than his raw yards). Johnson had a dramatic dip between his raw yards and his EYards, having only 895 (351 under his raw yards). Ballard saw a slight dip, having 767 EYards. MJD too dipped from his raw yards, scoring 347 EYards. To compare their EYards more fairly (as Foster and CJ had much more carries than MJD and Ballard), Foster had 4.162 EYards/rush. MJD had 4.035 EYards/ rush. Ballard had 3.635 EYards/rush. CJ had 3.243 EYards/rush (Football Outsiders really contradict CJ's standard stats). Thus, I can tell you Football Outsider statistics rank Foster the best. Followed by MJD (before he got injured) and then Vick Ballard. Which leads us to CJ, whose advanced stats here painted a much different picture than his raw stats painted (Raw stats: 4.5 yards/carry. EYards: 3.243 only!). Moving on... PRO FOOTBALL FOCUS Let's first look at a (so to say) less important aspect of being a runningback: receiving ability. Ballard ranked first of the three AFC South RBs that qualified (MJD didn't qualify), as he scored .88 Yards per Route Run (YPRR), ranking #37/50 as he had 1.11 YPRR than the receiving RB master: D. Sproles. CJ h

Add the pace car driver to the list of Indianapolis 500 connections to the number four.

Just a few days ago, we looked at a free agent outside linebacker the Colts signed, Erik Walden. Today we look at another free agent linebacker also signed on the first day of free agency, Lawrence Sidbury. Sidbury spent the past four seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, who drafted him in the fourth round of the 2009 NFL Draft. The University of Richmond product recorded 20.5 sacks in his career with the Spiders and notched 11.5 of them in his senior season of 2008. In four NFL seasons, however, Sidbury has only made 17 tackles and 5 sacks - total. He has yet to start a game in the National Football League, though he has appeared in 48 total. In 2011 he took a major step forward, recording 4 sacks and showing a lot of potential. However in 2012 the coaching staff made a decision not to play him and it resulted in just 1 tackle in 10 games played - and the snaps played was very limited, as Sidbury was in for just 2.94% of the Falcons defensive plays. He forced 1 hurry all season. While the issue the coaching staff (and new coordinator Mike Nolan) had with Sidbury isn't known, what is known is that Sidbury wanted out of Atlanta. D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal Constitution quoted Sidbury's agent, Alan Herman as saying the following about Sidbury: "It’s hard to prove yourself when you’re sitting on the bench," Herman said. "It was clear that he had more than a decent preseason. He was active in his pass rushes. I thought he put pressure on the quarterback. He just wasn’t afforded that opportunity during the season. You can’t sack anybody from the bench." He showed signs of progress in 2011, but didn’t seem to fit into the plans during Mike Nolan’s first season as the coordinator. "He had 4.5 half sacks and two more were disputed (in 2011)," Herman said. "We actually thought he had 6.5 sacks when we looked at the tape. The bottom line is I thought he played well the year before and showed signs of being able to get to the quarterback and then not getting the opportunity this year was exceptionally frustrating." The article also notes that the Falcons tried putting Sidbury on special teams, but that he was beaten out there as well. The bottom line seems to be that Sidbury showed promise in Atlanta but then had a falling out with the coaching staff which left him wanting out. He was a free agent this offseason (former Colts general manager Bill Polian rated him as a "Tier B" free agent, meaning he was a player to sign if the price was right). The current general manager of the Colts, Ryan Grigson, obviously liked Sidbury as well and signed him quickly to a 1-year, $715,000 deal. It seems that this was a good signing, if Polian's grading system is correct. So the question then becomes what role he has with the Colts. He won't be the starter, as Bjoern Werner and Erik Walden will be battling for the outside linebacker spot opposite of Robert Mathis (another thing to consider is that Sidbury is making the transition from a defensive end in Atlanta to an outside linebacker in Indy). The team's confidence in the depth that they have with Sidbury may have been a deciding factor in the move to trade away former first round pick Jerry Hughes. It is safe to assume that Lawrence Sidbury will get more opportunities this season with the Colts than he did last season with the Falcons - much more, probably. He has talent and potential as a speed pass rusher, but he needs work to achieve that. Working with a Colts coaching staff that is talented and believes in him should help Sidbury greatly. And perhaps as the season goes on, the Colts will continue to get increased playing time and production out of him. The only issue is that they have at least two guys at the position ahead of Sidbury, so he faces an uphill battle. We will look at the position as a whole as it gets closer to camp, but I don't think that Lawrence Sidbury is any certainty on the 53-man roster.

Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports 2012 was undoubtedly the year of the quarterback in the NFL, however one star will shine the brightest when the sun finally sets on the careers of these young gunslingers. Obviously it was uncanny to see three rookie quarterbacks and an inexperienced guy like Colin Kaepernick reach the postseason last year, yet success will run rampant in this group of huddle-masters. 15 years down the road it’s going to be Andrew Luck of the Indianapolis Colts who we all remember as the best quarterback to get selected in the 2012 draft class. In addition, Luck will outshine Kaepernick until one of them hangs up their cleats or is forced to. Taking over a 2-14 Colts team, Luck had quite a few expectations, however no one expected him to bring Indy to a playoff game in year one of his NFL tenure. The people that Luck had around him in year one will also contribute to his league domination. Head coach Bruce Arians was monstrous in Luck’s development, but don’t underestimate the effect of a guy like Reggie Wayne. Veteran wide receivers often branch out and take young quarterbacks under their wing, yet few of them have the pedigree and knowledge of the game that Wayne withholds. While I don’t want to dismiss what guys like Russell Wilson and Robert Griffin III have done, I would be idiotic to jump off of the Luck bandwagon after a historic collegiate career and an electric start to his professional career. Perhaps the most important part of this conversation is the ability to stay healthy. Griffin is far from a sure thing after tearing his ACL last winter, so who is to say that injuries won’t be a recurring theme for quarterbacks who lend themselves to injury via the running game?