No Peyton Manning no glory – Indianapolis Colts and their performance in last NFL season (Part I)
Whenever the name of Indianapolis Colts comes in mind, the charismatic Peyton Manning and his services to the city of Indianapolis and the franchise automatically pop up.
The star quarterback, who gave his life to the Colts after starting his professional National Football League (NFL) career with them back in 1998, missed the last NFL season owing to a neck injury.
His absence was badly felt during the season and the team felt helpless on the field and ended the season in a pathetic manner, which forced the owner to fire the general manager, coaches and a few other players after the season.
Manning himself had to part ways with the club due to financial problems and after spending 14 years with Colts, the only NFL team he has played for, the quarterback has reportedly joined hands with Denver Broncos.
In this space, we will analyse the performance of Colts in every game they played in the last regular season and see how Manning’s absence hurt them on the field.
Let’s start with their first game.
At Houston
Colts played their first game of the season against Houston Texans on the latter’s home field.
Texans started with a field goal in the first quarter and added two touchdowns later in the quarter. They got 17 more points in the next quarter and the third quarter did not witness any scoring move.
Manning’s absence was felt right in the first game as Colts got their first scoring move in the final quarter when Texans had already scored 34 points.
Colts managed a touchdown in the final quarter and lost the game. The final score settled at 34-7.
Colts’ coach, Jim Caldwell, tried to cheer the team up and said after the game:
"We've got to go back to the basics and focus in on the things we did really poorly. They are all correctable. There is an old saying, 'You're never as bad as you think you are when you lose, and you're never as good as you think you are when you win.' That
certainly is true for us today.
Against Cleveland Browns
Colts played their first home game of the season against Cleveland Browns and the result without Manning was the same.
Colts got a good start as they scored a field goal in the first quarter without giving away any scoring move.
However, the offence continued its struggle and scored two field goals in the next quarters against Browns’ two touchdowns.
Colts got another field goal in the third quarter, but Browns got 13 points in the final quarter in which Colts scored their first touchdown of the game.
The final score, 27-19, settled in favour of Browns.
Against Pittsburgh Steelers
The start to the season was definitely not good for Colts, but they were hoping to come back as soon as possible.
They played their next game against Pittsburgh Steelers and got their third straight defeat.
Steelers got 10 points in the first quarter while Colts got 13 in the next.
After the scoreless third quarter, Steelers got 14 points in the final quarter whereas Colts could only get seven and lost the game.
The final score settled at 23-20.
Colts, however, did not lose hope and coach Caldwell said after the game:
"We still are measured around here by wins. That's what counts. But the guys played tough, played hard, and you certainly can see evidence that we're getting a little bit better, but the key is, you've got to win."
To be continued...
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