Indianapolis Colts

The Indianapolis Colts began their first set of OTAs on Monday, kicking off the beginning of practices for the team and its new faces. With OTAs now officially beginning, one of the bigger things for fans and media alike to start watching out for is how the offense will run. The addition of Pep Hamilton brought in plenty of excitement and buzz around Indianapolis. Back when Hamilton was hired, there was plenty of talk about potential running plays out of the pistol or wildcat formations, and even potentially some read-option plays. Now, a lot of that hype has died down and been replaced with talk of a "No Coast Offense". The idea that of this offensive gameplan is essentially that they would have a playbook with plays from the days of Peyton Manning, plays last year with Bruce Arians, and plays from Stanford back when Luck and Hamilton were there together. While all this talking about what the offensive playbook will look like is all pretty unclear at the moment, one thing that people are beginning to speculate about is a power running game using zone blocking schemes. The big hint about this came from the NFL Draft back in April. The Colts brought in two offensive linemen in Hugh Thornton and Khaled Holmes who are both aggressive guys that could play well in a zone blocking scheme. The additions of both Gosder Cherilus and Donald Thomas also point to this being the case. Regardless, OTAs should now finally bring some of these questions about the offense to light. The team and players will be beginning to run plays out of the playbook starting now, so fans should keep a close eye on what's being reported on the offense. We may not see the whole offensive strategy starting right now, but we may start getting a feel for this offense thanks to OTAs.

I would think that the team would assign an intern or some low-level person to read the various blogs and then respond to things like do players have to have a signed contract to participate in OTAs - not something like Grigson is an idiot for trading Shipley - not to discussion questions but to factual questions - seems like the team would want fans to understand how things work or maybe their is a better place to post questions - any suggestions? I would think that the team would assign an intern or some low-level person to read the various blogs and then respond to things like do players have to have a signed contract to participate in OTAs - not something like Grigson is an idiot for trading Shipley - not to discussion questions but to factual questions - seems like the team would want fans to understand how things work or maybe their is a better place to post questions - any suggestions?

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?

Kirk Cousins gives the Washington Redskins QB security, which is more than you can say about Graham Harrell with Green Bay Packers. Our analysts eye backup quarterback situations across the NFL.

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.