Five Observations: Indianapolis Colts Vs. New York Giants

The Indianapolis Colts (6-3) traveled to New York (3-5) to play the Giants on Monday Night Football this week. The Colts were looking to rebound after an ugly defeat to the Steelers and did so on Primetime television. It wasn’t a perfect game but the Colts showed that they clearly were the better team.

No close games

During the first two seasons of the Andrew Luck era, the Colts had become a comeback team. It seemed that every game was close and the goal was to let Luck win it in the fourth quarter. In the third year of the Luck’s career, the Colts have now played six straight games that weren’t close. The biggest margin of defeat in one of those games was 7 points in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicated against the Ravens. The point is that the Colts are no longer a team that lives week to week but they have become a team that is truly able to put games away.

Looking ahead

Like mentioned above, the Colts have yet to play in a close game since Week 2 when they got robbed of a win (I may still be bitter) against Philadelphia. Looking ahead, the Colts only have a few games left that should be a challenge for them against the Patriots, Cowboys and a matchup against the Browns that could be interesting. The Colts are clearly a playoff team but these games should give us an idea about how serious this team can be in competing for the Super Bowl.

Revenge

Everyone following the Colts knew that Bradshaw and Nicks used to play for the Giants and many people had suggested that they would have great games because of this. Bradshaw continued his amazing play this season against his former team but it took him a little while during the game to get going. Nicks however didn’t look overly motivated and continued his sub-par play this season. His final stat line was 3 catches for 44 yards. He has only caught more than 3 passes twice this season and hasn’t been over the yardage mark since his first game. I think its time to see Donte Moncrief get more snaps over Nicks.

Andrew Luck’s expectations are too high

During the game, it seemed like many people were pointing to this as a poor game from Luck. Halfway through Luck’s third season, he put up 25 completions (for 54.3 percent completion), 354 yards and 4 touchdowns with no picks. Stat lines can be misleading and this one is as well. Luck didn’t have a great game like his stats would suggest but, at the very worst, that could be described as an average game from Luck. Those are some crazy expectations for a player who hasn’t even been in the league for three full years yet.

Vontae…he’s pretty important

Vontae Davis has become an Indianapolis fan favorite this season after signing a massive contract in the offseason. Vontae continued his strong play in this game and the Giants just kept on attacking him. Vontae faced 12 targets but only allowed four balls to be caught. On those four completions he only surrendered 49 yards; whenever he couldn’t make a play on the ball Vontae was there to make a sound tackle. Vontae’s numbers could look worse in this game because of some drops but even on those plays Vontae was right there to make the tackle or at least try and break up the pass.