2015 Indianapolis Colts Schedule: Full Listing of Dates, Times and TV Info

After appearing in the AFC Championship Game last season, the Indianapolis Colts made some roster upgrades that they're hoping will provide enough support for Andrew Luck to get them over the hump. 

The Colts' journey to the postseason doesn't figure to be as easy as it has been in recent years. The AFC South has been dreadful throughout the Luck era, which has undoubtedly helped Indianapolis make the playoffs in the last two years. 

Yet given how far the Colts have been able to go even with a roster that anyone could see was full of holes, the additions of veterans like Frank Gore and Andre Johnson could be the spark needed to push this franchise past New England in the playoffs if the two happen to meet. 

After going 11-5 in 2014, the Colts look like a better team on paper right now. It's time to see if the front office's efforts will pay off with a Lombardi Trophy. 

Gore figures to be the key, as it's the first time in Luck's career he has played with a legitimate star running back. Trent Richardson bombed basically from the day he was acquired in a trade with the Cleveland Browns, while others such as Ahmad Bradshaw and Dan Herron are serviceable backups. 

The 31-year-old Gore isn't in his prime anymore but remains as reliable as ever with four consecutive seasons with at least 1,000 rushing yards in San Francisco. He's also got the mindset of a player who wants to prove the cynics who say an older running back can't succeed wrong, per Kevin Bowen of Colts.com:

 “I live by this, I will never let a man tell me what I can’t do because I turned a certain age. As long as I got passion and love for the game, I’m going to try and be the Frank Gore I’ve always been and that’s what I go by,” Gore said.

As long as the Colts get consistent production from the offensive line, Gore will provide an element to this offense that Luck has never had. If opposing teams have to respect Indianapolis' ability to run, knowing what the former No. 1 overall pick can do, the Colts will take another leap forward. 

Yet they are also looking at better competition in the division. Houston won nine games last season without a quarterback but now boasts at least two capable signal-callers with Ryan Mallett and Brian Hoyer. The Jacksonville Jaguars have a lot of young talent who should continue to get better with a full season of development. The Tennessee Titans are the only weak link in the division, as that entire roster needs an overhaul. 

Here's a look at what the Colts will be dealing with during the 2015 season complete with a breakdown of the opponents and key matchups. 

Week	Date	Opponent	Time (ET)	TV
1	September 13	at Buffalo	1 p.m.	CBS
2	September 21	vs. New York Jets	8:30 p.m.	ESPN
3	September 27	at Tennessee	1 p.m.	CBS
4	October 4	vs. Jacksonville	1 p.m.	CBS
5	October 8	at Houston	8:25 p.m.	CBS/NFLN
6	October 18	vs. New England	8:30 p.m.	NBC
7	October 25	vs. New Orleans	1 p.m.	FOX
8	November 2	at Carolina	8:30 p.m.	ESPN
9	November 8	vs. Denver	4:25 p.m.	CBS
10	November 15	Bye Week	N/A	N/A
11	November 22	at Atlanta	1 p.m.	CBS
12	November 29	vs. Tampa Bay	1 p.m.	FOX
13	December 6	at Pittsburgh	8:30 p.m.	NBC
14	December 13	at Jacksonville	1 p.m.	CBS
15	December 20	vs. Houston	1 p.m.	CBS
16	December 27	at Miami	1 p.m.	CBS
17	January 3	vs. Tennessee	1 p.m.	CBS

Analysis

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

If you like to look at last year's records to determine how difficult a schedule will be, the Colts are looking at one of the best paths to the playoffs, per Gil Brandt of NFL.com:

While that does say something about a schedule, it's not a wholly accurate picture because teams change so much from year to year in the NFL.

The expectation should be the AFC South is a better division because all four teams made upgrades, so that .416 opponent win percentage immediately looks low because Indianapolis has to play Houston, Jacksonville and Tennessee six times. 

As is always the case with scheduling, by virtue of being a division winner, the Colts get to face the other AFC division winners from last season (vs. New England and Denver, at Pittsburgh). 

The Patriots game is the one Colts fans will have circled on the schedule because that's the mountain they haven't been able to conquer in the Luck era. It figures to be a better matchup since New England lost key defensive players such as Darrelle Revis, Brandon Browner and Vince Wilfork. 

In many ways, Luck's arc with the Colts has become a mirror image of Peyton Manning's. Even though Luck has had more immediate success in the playoffs with at least one playoff win in the last two years, the Patriots were Manning's white whale for years until that miracle comeback in the 2006 AFC Championship Game. 

Keep in mind, Manning was in his ninth year at the time he won his first Super Bowl. Luck is only going into his fourth season and has done more with less than any quarterback in the league since 2012. 

The bottom of the schedule contains winnable games against Tennessee. The Colts haven't lost a division game since 2012. While that streak doesn't seem likely to continue this season, another year with four or five wins seems feasible. 

Pivotal Matchups

Darron Cummings/Associated Press

It's become fashionable to highlight division games as pivotal because those are where rivalries typically come from, but that's not the case with Indianapolis. Some of it is because the AFC South hasn't been exciting to watch recently, but there are a lot of fun games on the docket worth talking about. 

As mentioned, the Patriots will be the standard Indianapolis measures itself against. Per SportsCenter, in four career games against the defending Super Bowl champions, Luck and his team have been humiliated every time:

Ric Flair's most famous quote says, "To be the man, you gotta beat the man. Woooo!" Well, right now New England is the man in football. The Patriots have ended the Colts' season in the playoffs each of the last two years. A win, even in the regular season, can provide a huge mental spark for this franchise. 

Another measuring stick game that will also have an emotional attachment to it is at Lucas Oil Stadium against the Denver Broncos. Even though Peyton Manning already had one homecoming in Indianapolis two years ago, no one knows how much longer he will continue to play. 

Manning put the Colts franchise on the map, essentially getting that fancy new stadium built, so the fact he could be playing in Indianapolis for the final time is going to make for an emotional and eventful matchup between two terrific teams. 

It's also another litmus-test game because there were reports after Indianapolis defeated Denver in the playoffs last year that Manning was playing hurt. The outcome could have been completely different with a healthy Manning in that scenario, so we didn't really find out if the Colts were better. 

Denver isn't going to be a chic Super Bowl pick this season because of questions about Manning, as well as the departures of Julius Thomas, Terrance Knighton and Rahim Moore, but it's still a team loaded with talent that will be in the playoff mix. 

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

The game against Pittsburgh jumps out on a purely superficial level. The Colts and Steelers played one of the most ridiculous games—in a good way—last year with 85 combined points and 1,087 yards of total offense. Anything close to that this time around will be as fun to watch as any game in the regular season. 

Two games that immediately jump out for the contrast in styles are at home against the New York Jets and on the road against the Miami Dolphins. Those franchises stocked up on defensive playmakers this offseason, led by Revis returning to the Jets and Ndamukong Suh signing with the Dolphins. 

The Jets and Dolphins aren't dynamic offensive teams, though the Dolphins have a solid starting quarterback in Ryan Tannehill and a solid young receiver in Jarvis Landry. If they are going to win in 2015, it will be on the back of defense. 

While the Colts have tried to add talent on defense like Trent Cole, this is still a franchise built on offense. Indianapolis is going to go as far as Luck, Gore and Co. takes it. Just getting that dichotomy in those two games makes for intriguing games this far away from the start of the season. 

Since the Colts are still going to find success within the division this season, even if it's not as much as they've had in the previous two years, how high they are able to climb will depend on what happens against teams like New England, Denver, New York, Miami and Pittsburgh. 

Luck has been able to get the Colts one step away from the Super Bowl in just three years. The front office tried to help him out by adding extra weapons on both sides of the ball. Now, it's on the coaching staff and team to execute in a way that pushes them over the top.