There are so many headlines surrounding this game. It’s another homecoming for Peyton Manning. The Colts have beaten the Broncos 2 out of the last 3 times the teams have faced each other. The Colts are sorely underachieving this 
season and the Broncos are undefeated. Andrew Luck is having his worst year since being drafted and Manning is turning out to be not so “old” as people thought he was. The biggest headline though is the change at offensive coordinator for the Colts when they moved on from Pep Hamilton and slid Rob “Chud” Chudzinski into that open position. There are reports that some of the players are upset with the move and others are happy. Nevertheless this game so much surrounding it that it’s hard to really focus on just one thing.
The Colts have been able to beat the Broncos with a solid outing in all three phases. The defense was able to get to Manning early and often and rattle him, but I’m not sure if this defensive unit up for that task. The Colts offense is in the dumps right now and the Broncos defense is the best in the league. There are obvious things that the Colts need to do and there are a few not so obvious points as well.
1. NO TURNOVERS
The Colts have given up so many turnovers this season and so an incredibly high amount of points have been scored off those turnovers. It has been major contributing factors to the Colts falling short of completing comebacks that wouldn’t even be down for had they held on to the ball to begin with. Here is a quick breakdown courtesy of our friends at First Down Punt:
Bill game: 2 turnovers=10 points
Jets game: 2 turnovers=10 points
Saints game: 2 turnovers=13 points
Panthers game: 4 turnovers= 20 points
We all play the “what if” game when we see things like this and I’m not any different. If these turnovers don’t happen the Colts win at least the Saints and Panthers game. They would be sitting at 5-3 instead but that didn’t happen. The Colts have to limit their turnovers against an amazing defensive unit. Manning is the last quarterback that you want to give extra possessions to during the game. When the Colts limit those turnovers things work in their favor. They are going to need to be on point all game long if they want a victory at home.
2. Use The Tight Ends
This was a problem that Pep had while running this offense. He didn’t use the tight ends very much other than to block which isn’t why Coby Fleener nor Dwayne Allen were drafted. They are both playmakers and with the ball in their hands they can do great things. Pep focused more on the wide receivers and streak routes. Luck would hold the ball to long and get smashed or throw a stupid pass to get rid of the ball and it would be easily intercepted. The Colts have two top tier tight ends on this team and this week they are going to have to have a heavy workload. Denver’s corners are having their best seasons and it’s not secret that TY Hilton (who might not play due to injury), Donte Moncrief, and Andre Johnson haven’t been winning too many battles against opposing secondary’s. Fleener has seen more balls this season than Allen by a wide margin. Fleener has almost thirty catches on this season while Allen sits with a measly nine. Allen may have missed some time, but he is a bulldozer with the ball. Luck has to get these involved all game long for the Colts to stand a chance.
3. USE THE PLAYACTION PASS!!!!
This is another thing that Pep never really did and Chudzinski loves to do. Luck is an amazing playaction quarterback and carries out his fakes to the end. This makes the safeties and linebackers bite down and BOOM, a tight end is open over the center of the field with room to run. I never understood why Pep strayed away from the playaction pass, but I am glad that the Colts have an offensive coordinator who loves running it and sees the value in calling it.
4. Continue To Feed Gore And Bradshaw
For the third point to work this has to be done all game long. Even if it’s two and three yard runs, this makes the defense bite on the run and makes them play the run and not just tee off on the pass. I think Frank Gore and Ahmad Bradshaw can have success this weekend. At least more success than most people are saying they will have. Both are hard runners and never stop churning their legs until they hit the ground. This is another tool that Chudzinski will utilize early and often and will not stop until they can do no more on the ground. The Colts have to keep their offense at a 50/50 tilt so the Broncos defense can’t just play one or the other all night long.
5. Luck Needs To Run
What is one thing that made Luck even more dangerous than when he was standing in the pocket? When he would take off and run the ball. Defenses have a hard time catching up to him and he is a big guy who is difficult to take down. Now I’m not saying Luck needs to go back to trying to run over defenders. I’m just saying he needs to break the pocket at some point and take off for a 10-15 yard scampers instead of forcing it. Pairing Luck’s running ability with Gore and Bradshaw makes for a long night for the Broncos defenders. Luck has to let go of the past and not play scared. When he was playing like he was Superman, we were all behind him. Now there are people who would rather see Matt Hasselbeck starting for the Colts rather than Luck because of the season he is having. I think if he takes off and runs a couple of times he will clear the cobwebs and regain some of his swagger.
The Colts have a huge test in front of them. Three out of the last four games, including this one, has been against undefeated teams. They gave Carolina a run for their money last Monday and I think they can do the same against the Broncos. I said this before and I will say it again. All three phases of the Colts gameplan have to be flawless if they want to send Manning back to Denver with his first loss of the season. I think if they can do this and it will give them so much confidence to build off of coming out of the bye week and heading to Atlanta for another difficult test in the run of difficult tests this team has been saddled with on this stretch of games.
