Dissecting Most Crucial Matchups in Colts' Week 9 Contest Against Giants

Still catching your breath from that astonishing showing last week? You're not alone. Truth is, it's hard to look forward to next week after being on the receiving end of such a vicious onslaught.

At least the Indianapolis Colts get until Monday to figure it out.

If they should fail to win these critical matchups, the end result most likely still won't be as bad as their Week 8 "game," but a loss is a loss and the Colts need a win right now.

Because the ship just took a huge shot, somebody has to right this thing.

The New York Giants won't lie down for Indy and are coming off their bye week. They could be a tough out for the Colts.

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

Andrew Luck vs. Eli Manning

This is a matchup Luck is expected to win nine out of 10 times, but so was last week's matchup. Luck didn't play poorly overall during the Steelers' unexpected outburst, but he did make some plays that ultimately took the Colts down a dark alley.

And the Steelers were waiting with chains and baseball bats.

The biggest mistake he made, and perhaps the one that doomed Indianapolis, was throwing a pick-six in the second quarter just seconds after the Colts had fallen behind 14-3.

If Luck leads a scoring drive instead, Indy makes it a one-possession game, and who knows what happens?

At 21-3 early in the second quarter, a comeback became a long, long road.

Manning isn't the elite quarterback he may or may not have even been before, but on his best day, he's still much more than capable of winning games. Luck needs to keep the ball away from the Giants and perform as efficiently and error-freely as he can manage.

Keeping the ball from Manning would reduce the importance of our next matchup.

Vontae Davis vs. Rueben Randle

What I'm about to say shouldn't be misconstrued as belittling what the Steelers did last week. They were very good and Ben Roethlisberger was probably going to have a great night regardless of this next statement.

Losing Davis was a massive setback for the Colts.

Before Davis' injury, Antonio Brown had zero catches on zero targets. Davis was doing what he had done all season: shut down No. 1 receivers.

After losing him, the Colts proceeded to allow Brown to catch 10 passes for 133 yards and two touchdowns.

It's pretty clear that Davis represents Indy's only true man-to-man cover corner, and the team needs him to be on the field to execute the type of aggressive defense it wants to use.

Chuck Pagano told reporters on Monday that Davis is "day-to-day."

Randle, like Manning, hasn't performed consistently this season. A lot of his issues probably stem from Manning's struggles, but as he's shown in the past, he's more than capable of putting up big numbers.

If Davis can't go on Monday (knee), the Giants will be skipping for joy. Expect Randle to be heavily involved if No. 21 doesn't take the field for the Colts.

Colts' Pass-Rushers vs. Giants' O-line

The Colts are most vulnerable in the passing game. Even with Big Ben going bonkers in a historically dominant performance, the Steelers' running backs only averaged 3.77 yards per carry.

The Colts' run "D" is legit.

The problem is that, try as they might, the Colts were completely useless in the pass-rushing department on Sunday. ESPN.com's box score indicates that Indianapolis managed only one quarterback hit and zero sacks.

Unacceptable.

For a team that had racked up the third-most sacks in the league prior to Week 8, that was a massive letdown. Roethlisberger embarrassed the Colts on Brown's second TD catch of the afternoon, giving Brown extra time to get open while playing a game of Skip-It.

If the Colts can't produce something resembling a pass rush against Manning, it could be another long day for the secondary. Randle can get open against anyone if given all day.