The Indianapolis Colts seemingly had a strong offseason of making improvements to both sides of the ball, but now the work becomes proving that notion to be correct.
While the Colts have gotten plenty of praise for their moves, Peter King of NBC Sports isn’t all that privy on the 2022 outlook for Indy. In his Football Morning in America column on Monday, King predicted the Colts would finish the season 9-8 and missing the playoffs yet again.
As a part of his power rankings, the Colts came in at No. 21 overall.
It’s a great cliché in the NFL, but so true about the Colts: They’ll go as far as the quarterback takes them. After a three-year, 27-23 post-Luck run with Jacoby Brissett, Philip Rivers and Carson Wentz, now they settle into a season with 37-year-old Matt Ryan and a suspect receiving corps that features three recent second-round picks—Parris Campbell (2019), Michael Pittman Jr. (2020) and Alec Pierce (2022). Ryan’s 7.1-yards-per-attempt with Atlanta last year was his lowest in eight years, and Frank Reich has been hungry to start stretching the defense with some deeper throws. So we’ll see if Ryan can still air it out. The Colts have the talent to win the AFC South, and the defense is good enough to keep them in games. They need a quarterback who makes receivers better and who’s in the building for more than 10 or 15 minutes. Ryan’s the latest hope for those jobs.
It’s hard to really argue with what King is saying here. The receiving corps has a lot to prove this season even with Pittman Jr. having established himself as a true WR1 in the offense.
While we predicted the Colts to finish the season 10-7, there is certainly a world where they finish 9-8 and just miss out on the playoffs.
The difference will come down to Matt Ryan, just as it was with Carson Wentz. However, those are two very different quarterbacks. Wentz’s peaks and valleys provided some extremely volatile play. While his peaks were tantalizing—showing shades of a former MVP candidate—those valleys were a major reason for the Colts’ late-season collapse.
Ryan’s steady play should benefit the offense more with the group he has around him. Is it stellar? No. But the strong protection upfront combined with one of the best rushing attacks in the NFL will help take some pressure off the veteran.
No one truly knows how the season will unfold, especially in May, but if the pieces come together quickly enough, this team does have the potential to win the division.
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