Saints vs. Colts: What's the Game Plan for Indianapolis?

The Colts are on a tour of the best quarterbacks in modern football. After losing to Tom Brady, again, last Sunday Indianapolis gets the pleasure of hosting Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints. Add Peyton Manning in, he’s coming in a couple of weeks, and Lucas Oil Stadium will have seen the whole set.

But despite this constant stream of Hall of Fame quarterbacks as their opponents, the Colts aren’t without their own elite signal-caller in Andrew Luck, who appears to be fully healthy and playing his best football of the season.

At 3-3 Indianapolis is far from where it wanted to be at this point in the season, but even after a loss to the New England Patriots last Sunday, the Colts are in a better place than they were to start the season and will be hoping to improve their record against the Saints.

Here is a guide to how Indy should approach its contest against Brees and the Saints.

Offensive Game Plan

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Last week, even in what appeared to be a tough loss, the Colts received a significant boost to their season as a whole. The return of Andrew Luck from injury is a big plus, especially with how comfortable he looked for the first time this year against the Patriots.

The first half of the game was a good model for how Indianapolis should handle the offense moving forward, with Luck relying on short passes and quick reads instead of sitting in the pocket for extended periods of time waiting for long routes to develop.

In Luck’s first few starts the weakness of the offensive line was on full display, with the Colts star quarterback finding himself under pressure far too often and having to play from behind as a result. But against the Pats, the pressure didn’t seem as great because Indianapolis called plays that would leave him in the pocket for significantly shorter and shorter periods.

Against the Saints the idea should be the same for the Colts on offense. Even though New Orleans doesn’t have the same level of pass rush as the Patriots, Luck needs to get the ball out of his hands quickly to establish the pass early and often.

A healthy dose of Frank Gore should also be on the menu, with the Saints ranking No. 30 in rush yards allowed per game, but the Colts would be remiss if they didn’t go back to the well and let Luck get the ball out of his hands as fast as possible.

Defensive Game Plan

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For what has seemingly been a generation worth of football the New Orleans Saints have had one of the best offenses in the league, without the benefit of an elite running game.

This year is no different, and despite a trio of running backs capable of carrying the load—Mark Ingram, Khiry Robinson and C.J. Spiller—the Saints rank as the second worst team in the league in rushing yards per game.

Fortunately for those in New Orleans, Drew Brees has held off father time for at least another year and looks like one of the best quarterbacks in the league once again. Behind their veteran signal-caller, the Saints are No. 3 in the league in yards per game through the air, even if it hasn’t translated to scoring as often as they would like.

For the Colts, who have struggled against the pass all year because of poor cornerback play, the Saints provide yet another team seemingly built to score a lot of points against Indianapolis. Putting Vontae Davis on either Brandin Cooks or Willie Snead won’t be enough as Greg Toler and Darius Butler have not played well this season.

Losing Mike Adams is another blow to the secondary, so, outside of Davis, the goal should be shutting down the Saints' second receiver in whatever way possible and hoping an increased role for Robert Mathis is enough to get pressure on Brees in the pocket.

Key Players and Matchups

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S Colt Anderson

The Colts have been quite poor in terms of secondary play so far this season, but there has been at least one bright spot in safety Mike Adams. With three interceptions and a touchdown in his last two games, Adams has been on a strong run of form for the Colts, something not many others can say in the secondary.

But with an injury sidelining him against the Saints, the job of ball hawking and keeping up the safety play falls to Colt Anderson instead of Adams. No one is expecting him to play to that level, but if Anderson struggles, Drew Brees will be ready to take advantage.

LB Robert Mathis

Even though he has been back since Week 2 against the New York Jets, it hasn’t felt like the Colts are really using former All-Pro linebacker Robert Mathis up to his full potential.

As one of the best pass-rushers in the league on a defense desperate for help pressuring the quarterback, Mathis needs to be in the game much more than he has been and it appears this is the week his role gets increased. It won’t be an instant fix but it will go a long way toward alleviating one of Indy’s most glaring issues.

RB Frank Gore

Sooner or later it feels like it has to happen, Frank Gore has to break the 100-yard mark for the Indianapolis Colts. He has been so close to ending the drought for Indianapolis this season, but hasn’t made it over the mark yet. But this week against the Saints might be his best opportunity.

New Orleans has one of the worst run defenses in the league and Gore, if utilized enough, should have an easy time pushing toward 100 yards. If he gets there or not remains to be seen, but expect a big game out of the Colts running back.

WR T.Y. Hilton

First it was Donte Moncrief’s run of big performances to start the year and then Andre Johnson went off in Houston, but for all he has done this season T.Y. Hilton has remained largely anonymous.

Despite leading the team in most receiving categories—he is tied for third with only one receiving touchdown this year—Hilton hasn’t garnered the attention he has in past years. This week expect another big performance coupled by a lack of fanfare for one of the league’s best and least talked about superstars.

Prediction

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The Colts have suffered through some tough defensive battles so far this season—although defensive might not be the right term with the low scoring affairs more a product of mistakes on offense—but against the Saints on Sunday that won’t be the case.

With two of the league’s top quarterbacks in Andrew Luck and Drew Brees and a pair of pass defenses that could use some work, there will be plenty of points to go around for both teams.

But with both quarterbacks able to find success through the air, perhaps the factor that will have the most impact on the game is how either team performs on the ground. Even with their trio of running backs, New Orleans has been terrible rushing the ball this year while Frank Gore appears to be coming into his own for the Colts.

It should be a close game and Brees will have his shots to steal the game as time winds down, but Luck and Gore found their rhythm last week against New England and won’t be slowing down against the Saints.

Prediction: Colts 34, Saints 27