FanPost

COLTS PLAYERS THAT MUST IMPROVE ON THEIR 2012 CAMPAIGN

I have high hopes on the Colts as I think they are a young team with loads of talent. In the off-season, the Colts front office made strides and improved a team that saw the playoffs last year. If the Colts want to see this Superbowl, these players MUST improve:

NOTABLE OMISSIONS/PLAYERS I CONSIDERED:

Samson Satele- He was paid to be the Colts starting centre, but after drafting Khaled Holmes, he might not be the starting centre for long in indy. However, if he serves as a veteran presence/knowledgeable character for Holmes, to mould him into a long term starting stud at centre, then that would be a favorable situation for the Colts

Donald Brown- If it weren't for Vick Ballard, I'd put Brown on this list. But I've lost hope for Brown as a featured back. If he was going to prove he was going to live up to his expectations as a first round player, then he would've done it last year. But he got injured, and before his injury, he wasn't effective, and was outplayed by Ballard's play. He's just a 1-2 punch- caliber runningback and figures to be a 1st round reach and I expect Ballard to take the the majority of the snaps. That's how disappointing Brown has been.

Erik Walden- Walden got a very generous contract for his play in 2012. After Nick Perry went down injured, he was not a very good starter. However, Colts gave him a fair contract this off-season (*LOGICAL POINT*: the contract was way above market value. How did Walden go from a 1 year/$700 000 contract to 4 year/$16 million? His play in 2012 did not deserve an average raise of $3.3 million/year, no way). He now is getting treated like a starter though, and in 2013/2014, he cannot be making attempts like this for one big reason: he is an ineffective pass rusher. Pass rushing will not be his primary role and is not his specialty, thus, his run defense must be stout. The contract is back loaded and could potentially be one year, so not only does he have to play well for the Colts to see the SB, by for himself to keep a good job too.

THE ACTUAL LIST NOW:

3. ADAM VINATERI

Vinateri's on top 5 kicker money. He's one of the best clutch kickers ever (it's annoying that most of the ultimate clutch ones were for the Patriots though). But after kicking for a whooping 92.9% in 2010, 85.8% in 2011, he went under 80% in 2012. Not good enough. He is getting good money and an improvement is a must. In fact, some people think he should already be released (a bit farfetched though). I'm not convinced it was leg power concerns either, as he missed 3 kicks (from his 7 misses) at 30-39 yards. The regular season concerns was a problem, but apart from the poor pass D and pass blocking in that wild card card game against Ravens, Vinateri was another loser from that game. He missed a fourth quarter 40 yard kick, that would have made the game 17-12. Not only do those points keep us closer in the game, but Ravens get given a short field to score a TD to put the game out of reach. C'mon man, you're (meant to be) Mr Clutch. His days in a Colt jersey will be outnumbered if he ranks any close to 30th in field goal percentage again.

2. COBY FLEENER

Fleener called last season "Brutal" for him last season and after getting outperformed by his fellow young TE, Dwayne Allen in receiving (Allen- 45 catches vs Fleener- 26, Allen-521 yards, Fleener- 281) and in blocking, I can see why. Colts drafted the two, expecting a Gronkowski-Hernandez like combo. What the Colts are seem to be getting though (after last years performance) is a Health Miller, Matt Spaeth type combo i.e. one severely outperforming the other. Yet, Fleener was the one drafted first. After watching Fleener's debut, I was extremely excited. Little did I know he would not go near his 82 yards receiving game for the rest of the year though (42 was his next best). An improvement is a must for the Colts as having two top 12 tight ends (which I think Dwayne Allen is probably already at) would create match up nightmares and would be great in the new offensive scheme being run in indy. Maybe his week 8 injury which forced him to miss four games slowed his progress after a promising start. But to finish his last 6 games (including playoffs) with only 6 catches, 84 yards is not impressive at all.

1. ANDREW LUCK

After a terrific year in which he excelled despite playing with some shoddy offensive players (most notably on o-line and Avery), Luck is already the Colt's Most Valuable Player. The guy is already on the fringe of being elite- just looking at the way he carried a below average team to the playoffs and made huge plays in the clutch made me (and many others) forget this guy was a rookie. But 23 turnovers is in the Mark Sanchez range. Yes, he was a rookie and yes a lot of his interceptions were due to poor routes run (most notably from Avery) and the blocking putting him under pressure, but he did make some poor decisions at times. Most of the poor decisions too were on the road (the New England game comes to mind). This needs to be cut out in 2013 if Colts want to make the Superbowl, as they will most likely go on the road to the playoffs with Texans in the division. As the Colt's franchise player and as the first 1st overall pick last year, the Colt's hopes of doing anything rely on #12. The more games Colts win will most likely correlate with how well Luck plays and with signs looking good at this point, Luck should be in for an exceptional season. I'm expecting big things from him.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Stampede Blue's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Stampede Blue's writers or editors.