Power Rankings Tuesday: Colts' Season Isn't Over

The Colts were beat handily on Sunday, losing 51-34 to the Pittsburgh Steelers.  The fact that the defense gave up 51 points and 639 yards while allowing a terrific individual day for Ben Roethlisberger has caused many to hit the panic button regarding the Colts.  But, in the words of Aaron Rodgers, Colts fans need to R-E-L-A-X.  Yes, Sunday was bad, but the season isn't over.  The overall body of work from the Colts has been positive.  There are legitimate concerns that are still there and those concerns surfaced again on Sunday, but the Colts are a good team with plenty of hope moving forward.  This week's power rankings reflect that.

The Colts were the biggest fallers in ESPN's power rankings this week, dropping to ninth (down from fourth a week ago):

The Colts entered Sunday with the league's best third-down defense (26 percent). Then the Steelers converted eight of 13 attempts in Sunday's offensive explosion.

NFL.com's Elliot Harrison ranked the Colts ninth, a fall of three spots from last week:

I could go on and on about the importance of depth. ... Pardon the pun, but the Colts simply didn't have the horses to stop Ben Roethlisberger on Sunday. It's bad enough Indy was down a few folks, but with Big Ben playing that streetball style, running around like that chicken in "Rocky II,"those linemen got gassed quick.

CBS's Pat Kirwan dropped the Colts to tenth, a fall of seven spots after ranking them third a week ago:

Colts (3): The Steelers just put 51 points on the Colts defense and Ben Roethlisberger threw for 522 yards and six touchdowns. It's a good thing Indianapolis has scored more points than any team in the NFL because it is starting to look like they will have to outscore opponents the rest of the way.

CBS's Pete Prisco ranks the Colts ninth, down three spots from last week:

The defense came apart in the loss to the Steelers. The potential loss of Vontae Davis would be brutal if he's out for a time.

The good news is that Davis' injury isn't serious and he's day-to-day - we're still not sure about his status for the game against the Giants, but his MRI was negative and the injury isn't that serious.  And as Prisco noted, that's a huge thing for the Colts.

SB Nation's Danny Kelly ranked the Colts fifteenth, down from number seven last week.

Basically, everybody (but Kelly) has the Colts still in the top ten, which is pretty accurate I think.  They should definitely drop after last week, but it was one game.  The Colts have plenty of issues, but they also have Andrew Luck and a heck of an offense.  And because of that, there's definitely hope for the Colts and they still deserve to be ranked as a top ten team, if only at number 9 or 10 (which is where I would place them as well).