Last season the Colts finished 12-4-0 and in second place in the AFC South Division. Indianapolis won a Wild Card berth and lost to the San Diego Chargers in the Wildcard round 23-17 in overtime.

Offense: The Colts rushing offense struggled last season ranking 31st in the league with fewer than 80 yards a game. After two good seasons for the Colts, Joseph Addai had only 554 yards last season after averaging over 1,000 in his first two years. To help the rush offense, the Colts spent their first draft pick on Donald Brown, running back from the University of Connecticut. Brown had over 2,000 yards rushing and 18 touchdowns as a junior last season. Gone is Peyton Manning’s favorite target since he has been in the league in Marvin Harrison. Harrison wanted more than the Colts, or any team in the league, think he is worth so he remains a free agent.

Defense: Indianapolis’s defense has continued to improve over the years as they ranked 11th in total yards allowed, seventh in points allowed, and sixth in passing yards allowed. The only blemish on their stats is the rush defense, ranked 24th in the league last season. So the Colts decided to draft two big bodies to help plug the holes on the defensive line in 6’5”, 300-pound Fili Moala and 6’, 320-pound Terrance Taylor. Neither guy should start this season barring any injuries to the incumbent starters, but both have the frame and came from schools playing quality opponents in USC and Michigan.

Star Power: With the release of Marvin Harrison, the new number one receiver in Indy is Reggie Wayne. No longer is he Harrison’s sidekick, as he led the team last season with 82 receptions, 1,145 yards receiving, and tied with Dallas Clark for the team lead in touchdowns with six. Wayne’s numbers dropped last season, but with so many options for quarterback Peyton Manning to throw the ball to all the receivers showed a drop in production. But as the main target for Manning this year, expect big things from Wayne this season.

Biggest Addition: Drafting another running back this offseason was a necessity for the Colts. The rushing game struggled mightily last season 31st in the league, and after two consecutive 1,000 yard seasons Joseph Addai rushed for only 544 last year. In comes the leading rusher in college football last season, Donald Brown from the University of Connecticut. Brown exploded on the college football map last year rushing for over 2,000 yards on the ground after recording only 820 yards his sophomore season. Brown should be able to help Addai carry the load for the Colts this season and return some sense of balance to this offense.

Biggest Loss: Having Head Coach Tony Dungy step down at the end of last season was a huge blow to this franchise. Dungy was a calm, cool, collected person his entire tenure with the Colts throughout any sort of tough time. New Head Coach Jim Caldwell will be a fine head coach in this league and for this team, but it is the intangibles that coach Dungy brought to the table that made him such a great head coach. His presence will be missed on this team, but hopefully the team will be able to move on without him.

Biggest Game: Sunday, December 6th the Tennessee Titans come to Lucas Oil Stadium to meet the Colts. This game is huge for the Colts to try and regain the strangle hold they had on this division for most of this decade. The Colts need to knock the Titans off of the pedestal to regain the top spot in the division, and no better time to do so then at home in one of the final games of the regular season.