Saints vs. Colts: Full Indianapolis Game Preview

It’s probably for the best to just move on from the Patriots game as quickly as possible. Sure there were plenty of positives for the Indianapolis Colts, but the haunting memory of an ill-advised fake punt could be the sort of thing that drags a team down for the whole season.

For the Colts, it is onwards and upwards though, the prospects for the season are still bright, a solid division lead, an offense finally coming into its own and a mostly healthy team has Indianapolis in a much better spot than after a 0-2 start.

Andrew Luck’s return from injury was a successful one—even if he did fall to 1-3 on the season with a loss—and the Colts could continue to move ahead of the pack in the AFC South with a win against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.

It won’t be easy though, Drew Brees has to be licking his chops to get a shot at the Colts cornerbacks, and the offensive line has been making even average defensive fronts look astounding all season, meaning it could be a brutal battle against the Saints.

Viewing Info

Location: Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis

Date: Sunday, Oct. 24

Time: 1 p.m. ET

TV: Fox

Week 6 Results and Recap

Jeff Haynes/Associated Press

Team	Record
Indianapolis Colts	3-3
Houston Texans	2-4
Tennessee Titans	1-4
Jacksonville Jaguars	1-5

All week, the only thing anyone wanted to mention about the Indianapolis Colts-New England Patriots matchup on Sunday was the fake punt. One of the most head-scratching plays in football, Indianapolis more or less gifted Tom Brady and the Patriots a touchdown that turned out to be the difference in the game.

Things had turned before that in favor of the Pats, as the Colts had seemingly lost whatever was making them tick offensively, and Rob Gronkowski was starting to have his way with the game.

But the final result and fake punt fiasco cover up what was, arguably, the performance of the season for Indianapolis in the first half. Getting a pick-six off Brady has been impossible this season and Andrew Luck looked like a player reborn against the Patriots defense.

Carrying a 21-20 lead into halftime, there was plenty of excitement surrounding the team until things turned after the break. Losing isn’t the ideal result, and the Colts still need to make drastic steps forward, but Sunday was a glimmer of hope in what has been a relatively bleak season.

Even if it hasn’t been the most impressive season for Indianapolis so far, one of the perks of playing in a division like the AFC South means that even at 3-3 the Colts are in sole possession of first place in the division.

As long as it can hold out against some of the weaker teams in the league, Indianapolis is still very much ahead of the pack in the race for a playoff berth.

News and Notes

Jeff Haynes/Associated Press

Frank Gore’s quest for 100

Despite the heights the Indianapolis offense has reached with Andrew Luck at the helm, the success has not been replicated in the running game over that same span. The last time the Colts managed a 100-yard runner was Vick Ballard in December of 2012, Luck’s rookie year.

With the addition of 32-year-old Frank Gore in the summer, many predicted that streak would come to an end, but, while he has come close, even the veteran running back hasn’t been able to cross the threshold to triple digits.

This season though, the Saints rank No. 30 in the league in rushing yards allowed per game, which makes Sunday the perfect opportunity for Gore to finally end the streak and rush for 100 yards.

An increased role for Robert Mathis

There are few who would argue that Robert Mathis is one of the best pass rushers in the league. But, even with Indianapolis struggling to generate much pressure on the quarterback this year, the former All-Pro linebacker has been limited in his role by the organization.

Returning from a serious injury, there were doubts as to what the 34-year-old Mathis could do this season, but according to Kevin Bowen of Colts.com, Chuck Pagano is ready to let the linebacker on the field in an increased capacity.

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Chuck Pagano knows the Colts pass rush has to get to the quarterback at a higher rate, particularly against these types of quarterbacks.

Drew Brees has been sacked 15 times in 209 attempts this year, a ratio that the Colts need to see grow on Sunday afternoon.

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More snaps for Mathis should mean a better pass rush for Indianapolis, which is one of the biggest problems the team has faced all season.

How much of the game plan against New England returns?

The Colts' offensive line has been tough to watch at points this season and haven’t been the most adept at protecting Luck.

Against the New England Patriots though, the Colts decided to turn to a short and mid-range focused passing game, allowing Luck to get rid of the ball quickly instead of facing huge amounts of pressure.

New England is better than New Orleans at rushing the quarterback, so it won’t be quite as necessary to run the same style of offense on Sunday, but the game plan worked well for Luck, and it would be a mistake for the Colts to completely abandon what they did against the Patriots.

Latest Injury News

AJ Mast/Associated Press

Player	Position	Injury	Status
Mike Adams	Safety	Hamstring	DNP
Jerrell Freeman	Linebacker	Groin	DNP
Clayton Geathers	Safety	Knee	DNP
Vontae Davis	Cornerback	Rest	DNP
Andre Johnson	Wide Receiver	Rest	DNP
Robert Mathis	Linebacker	Rest	DNP

Through the first few weeks of the season, the Colts were plagued by injuries that had serious impact on their games. Between the run of hurt cornerbacks, to the loss of Andrew Luck for two games, Indianapolis hasn’t been the luckiest team in terms of injuries this year.

Week 7 looks to be easily the healthiest the team has been to this point in the year, though, and after a tough loss to the Patriots, it is a welcome sight for the fans.

Both Luck and Dwayne Allen are back to practicing fully, the only cornerback on the injury report is Vontae Davis taking a day off for rest and linebacker Nate Irving, who sat out against New England, was a full participant in practice.

The only serious note from the injury report is safety Mike Adams, who has been on a strong run of performances with three interceptions in the past two weeks, including a pick-six of Tom Brady against New England.

Missing Adams could be a big blow with how the cornerbacks have struggled, but compared to some of the losses the team has faced this year in the injury department, this should be relatively easy to overcome.

All injury reports via Colts.com

Key Matchups

Jeff Haynes/Associated Press

Colts cornerbacks vs. Saints wide receivers

Until the problem gets fixed and the Colts actually put together an all-round good performance in the secondary, this should be the most talked about unit on the team.

Last week, the Patriots made it look easy against the cornerbacks for Indianapolis and weren’t the first team to find plenty of success this season either.

Even with a healthy unit, things have been poor for the Colts corners. The safeties have improved significantly since the season started, but there is no reason to believe that Willie Snead and Brandin Cooks won’t have a field day against the likes of Greg Toler and Darius Butler.

Even with the offensive line struggling, the unit that needs the most help is the Colts cornerbacks and facing off against Drew Brees isn’t the ideal situation to be in.

Saints secondary vs. Andrew Luck and Colts receivers

Last week, despite beating the Atlanta Falcons, the Saints were far from the perfect team. Matt Ryan and Julio Jones still managed big games, and New Orleans has been suspect against the pass for years, this season being no exception.

If Luck can build on the performance he put together with a shorter passing game against the Patriots on Sunday, Indianapolis will have plenty of opportunities to succeed through the air and put up big numbers in the score column.

Matchup X-Factor

AJ Mast/Associated Press

CB Greg Toler

So far this season, the typical game plan for Indianapolis when it comes to the cornerbacks has been to allow Vontae Davis to shadow the opponent's top receiver, hoping to shut him down entirely like Sammy Watkins, and allow the No. 2 option to be covered by whoever was left healthy at the time.

Over the past couple of weeks, the player that is left to cover the No. 2 receiving option has been Greg Toler, the team’s second-best cornerback heading into the season, who missed time at the start of the year. Things haven’t exactly gone well.

Since returning from injury against the Houston Texans, Toler has been on the receiving end of a lot of criticism and rightfully so. He has been beaten consistently, and quarterbacks are starting to target him more and more often, making the mistakes seem all the more frequent.

If Davis is matched up with Will Snead, who has been New Orleans' top receiver this year, that leaves Toler to cover Brandin Cooks a matchup that could go sour quickly. The young receiver is shifty and versatile and with Drew Brees at quarterback, Toler has to keep tight to Cooks or risk another rough outing.

The matchup with Toler could be the deciding factor in the game as the Colts have struggled against the pass all season, and Brees is more than capable of taking advantage for a huge game.

Prediction Colts 34, Saints 27

Jeff Haynes/Associated Press

Last Sunday against the Patriots, the Indianapolis Colts showed the NFL everything good and everything bad about their season so far.

The offense looked efficient early, with wide receivers making play after and play and Andrew Luck returning from injury like he hadn’t missed a beat.

But the same flaws the team has carried all season were there as well. The cornerbacks were embarrassingly bad, the pass rush never materialized and the offensive line—while better—wasn’t up to snuff for a team that wants to win a title.

This week against the Saints, the Colts should have a much better time than they did against the Patriots, but it all hinges on if Drew Brees can take advantage of the problems with the Indianapolis defense.

New Orleans doesn’t have the strongest receiving corps in the league and Brees, while still a Hall of Famer, isn’t on the same astral plane as Tom Brady this year, but neither of those things will matter if the Colts can’t step up their game.

Luck looked his best against New England and should continue that trend against the Saints, leading the offense to a big day and a win, even if the defense continues to struggle against the pass.

Prediction: Colts 34, Saints 27.