Indianapolis Colts Week 11 Stock Report

The Indianapolis Colts' bye week is officially behind them. 

Next up on the docket are the Atlanta Falcons. The Colts travel to Atlanta for their 10th game of the season, officially kicking off the second half of their season on Sunday. 

This could be a tumultuous few weeks with Andrew Luck sidelined, but the Colts are hoping that their Week 9 win over the Denver Broncos can kick-start a run that powers them into the playoffs. 

They'll have their work cut out for them with teams like the Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars getting wins in Week 10. The Texans and Colts are currently tied atop the AFC South at 4-5, with Houston scoring a big win over the previously undefeated Cincinnati Bengals Monday. 

The Colts need to keep pace if they want to make the playoffs. Who will play the biggest part in their shot at an upset in Atlanta? 

Stock Up: Matt Hasselbeck

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As Andrew Luck's stock falls because of his kidney and abdominal injuries, Matt Hasselbeck's rises. 

The 40-year-old quarterback wasn't supposed to start games this season; it was supposed to be one last shot at a Super Bowl as Luck's understudy. Hasselbeck was supposed to help install game plans and give Luck a different viewpoint from the sideline. 

But the veteran has adapted well, starting two games earlier this season, and the Colts are relying on his steady play to get them through another critical stretch here in the second half of the season. 

Hasselbeck should also be helped by Rob Chudzinski's move to offensive coordinator. 

Chudzinski should aim to lean more on the running game while using a simpler game plan and emphasizing more passes over the middle, all of which should aid Hasselbeck. While he played well in his first two starts this season, he's at his best when managing the offense, not having to create plays and be the foremost weapon. 

Against a relatively easy defensive schedule over the next few weeks, Hasselbeck has a chance to do just that. 

Stock Down: Donte Moncrief

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Ah, the woes of a second-year NFL player. 

The second year of an NFL player's career is supposed to give us an idea of his trajectory. The player has a year of NFL-quality play under his belt, and while he likely isn't fully developed, he should at least be giving us an idea of what he is capable of long term. 

For Donte Moncrief, it's difficult to discern what that means. 

Through the first nine weeks of the season, Moncrief has impressed and disappointed us at the same time. He averaged nearly six catches and 70 yards per game in the first four weeks and scored three touchdowns over that time period. It looked as if he and T.Y. Hilton would make a phenomenal one-two punch. 

But over the last five games, Moncrief has averaged just three catches per game for 30 yards and scored two touchdowns in that time period. While still something of a red-zone threat, Moncrief's involvement in the down-to-down offensive flow has been limited to occasional sideline outs. 

What happened? Did defenses adjust to the fact that he was the de facto No. 2 receiver in the Colts offense, not veteran Andre Johnson? Has he been used differently? Does Andrew Luck not trust him? 

Maybe it's a bit of all of the above, but either way, it's difficult to ignore his downward slope. The switch to Matt Hasselbeck at quarterback doesn't help, either; while Moncrief has a rapport with the veteran due to their stints on the second team together, Hilton should continue to be the top targeted receiver, and Hasselbeck and Johnson showed good chemistry in their last game together. 

The Colts need Moncrief to resume his breakout second season, but the odds of that happening don't seem high.

Stock Up: Running Backs

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While Donte Moncrief is unlikely to see his targets increase with Andrew Luck out, Frank Gore and Ahmad Bradshaw are in a different boat. 

With Matt Hasselbeck at quarterback in Weeks 3 and 4, Frank Gore saw two of his four most-used games all season, with 22 total touches and 87 or more total yards in each game. His usage should continue to stay high in this stint, particularly if the Colts have figured out how to start faster on offense. 

The Colts started up 17-0 against the Denver Broncos in Week 9, a vast difference in how they've started most games this season. During the first eight weeks of the season, the Colts were 31st in first-half touchdowns and 31st in first-half first downs, per Pro-Football-Reference.com. This put the Colts in holes early on and capped Frank Gore's potential usage as the team went into catch-up mode. 

But with Rob Chudzinski at the helm in Week 9, the Colts scored three times in the first half, giving them a lead that allowed them to ride Gore more in the second half. 

Chudzinski's role as offensive coordinator also helps Gore and Bradshaw from a stylistic point of view. Chudzinski is committed to the run and particularly likes to run from formations with a fullback in the backfield, something Gore is used to due to his time in San Francisco. 

As for Bradshaw, he's stepped into the third-down role quite nicely, racking up nine third-down touches over the last four games as compared to three for Gore. Bradshaw showed his ability to catch out of the backfield with a receiving touchdown against the Broncos, a great adjustment to the blitz.

The Falcons are 30th in the league at defending running backs in the passing game, per Football Outsiders' defense-adjusted value over average (DVOA) metric, and Bradshaw could be Hasselbeck's best friend on short dump-offs.

Stock Down: Inside Linebackers

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It's tough to put the linebackers as a stock-down option, as D'Qwell Jackson and Jerrell Freeman have played reasonably well over the first half of the season (not perfect, but better than expected). 

But it's impossible to do anything but consider them a stock-down option when standout defensive end Henry Anderson has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL. 

Anderson was playing tremendously well during the first half of the year, creating mass chaos in opposing backfields and opening up room for the linebackers to make plays. It is no coincidence that Jackson and Freeman are two of the top five inside linebackers in the league in run-stop percentage, per Pro Football Focus. 

But with Anderson now out, things will get much more difficult on the two off-ball linebackers. 

It comes at a poor time, too, with running backs like Devonta Freeman, Doug Martin and DeAngelo Williams up on the docket. Jackson and Freeman will be counted on to make a lot of plays in the running game as well as in coverage, and that's not usually a situation that bodes well for Indianapolis. 

Stock Questionable: Mike Adams

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After Week 9's win over the Broncos, Colts fans were distraught over the season-ending injury to Henry Anderson. Just a day later, they were distraught with the significant injury to Andrew Luck. 

Lost amid the fray was an ankle injury to safety Mike Adams, the dependable and curiously lucky (seriously, look at all of his interceptions; the guy is always in the right place) veteran who provides immeasurable stability in the defensive backfield. 

Adams' injury was thought to be rather insignificant. He was walking "fine," according to Zak Keefer of the Indianapolis Star, and it wasn't expected that he would miss any time, especially with a bye week to recover.

Then he missed practice on Wednesday.

After a whole week off, Adams' minor ankle injury shouldn't have kept him from practice on Wednesday. Of course, that doesn't necessarily keep him from playing on Sunday, but it's a situation to monitor.

Head coach Chuck Pagano told Mike Chappell of Indy Sports Central that Adams is day-to-day, signifying that there is risk of him missing Sunday's game. 

With the Colts facing a number of significant deep threats over the next few weeks (Julio Jones, Mike Evans, Martavis Bryant and Antonio Brown), Adams' presence in the defensive backfield will be much-needed. Even if it's just Week 11 that is potentially impacted by the injury, the prospect of the team facing Julio Jones without its best safety is not an inviting one.