Off-SeasonAugust 23rd:The Colts Sign veteran RG Randy Thomas to a 10 Million dollar contract, hoping to improve their league worst rushing attack of last season.
Coach Juke: "It's too bad we had to find out the hard way, but to win a Super Bowl we must have a consistent running game. By signing Randy, we hope to have just that for this upcoming season."
August 26th:The Colts sign DE Dwight Freeney to a lifetime contract.
Regular SeasonWeek 1:
Texans pull off fourth quarter comeback in front of their homecrowd, scoring 14 in the 4th to win 28-17 vs the ColtsEntering the 3rd quarter, the Colts had a 17-14 lead. However, the Texans would stage a comeback by scoring 14 in the fourth while Peyton threw 2 picks when it counted most, leaving the Colts scoreless in the final quarter.
Coach Juke:"It's just the first game, we saw a couple adjustments we can make for the next time we play them. I feel we had control of the game until our offense broke down and we threw a couple picks in the 4th. We'll break down some more game film and we think we'll be alright and defend our home field in Indy."
Player of the game:QB Matt Schaub - 15/19, 213 yards, 4 touchdowns (2 passing and 2 running) 0 interceptions.
Week 2:
Massacre in Indy, Colts obliterate the Giants to win 42-0.Coach Juke: "There's not much to say about this game besides the fact that Peyton got pretty upset after I took him out of the game in the second half. He only threw 9 passes so he's not too happy about that. We're gonna take a couple days off then start making our preparations for the Broncos next week. See you guys then."
Game notes:The Colts held the Giants to just 131 yards of total offense (only 15 rushing yards).
Indy converted on 12 of 14 3rd downs.
Player of the game:QB Peyton Manning - 5/9, 188 yards, 3 touchdowns, 0 interceptions
Week 3:
Colts defense records 2nd straight shutout to beat the Broncos 44-12Coach Juke: "I'm very proud of our defense and how hard they've played so far this season. I hope we can continue our defensive dominance next week against the Jaguars."
Game notes:For the second straight game the Colts defense allowed
zero offensive touchdowns. (The Broncos scored with 2 kickoff TDs, both extra points were missed).
Colts defense allowed only 94 yards of total offense.
The Colts had a strong performance on the ground again with 164 yards rushing.
Player of the game:QB Peyton Manning - 8/11, 308 yards, 4 touchdowns, 0 interceptions.
Week 4:
Heavy rain doesn't bother Indy as they beat division rival Jags in a close one, 17-12.Colts improve to a 3-1 record on the season.The Jags started the game off perfectly with an
8 minute drive that resulted in a touchdown, trying to keep Manning off the field as long as possible. However, Manning and the colts scored quickly despite the horrible weather conditions. The teams traded a few punts after the quick scoring and entered the half at 7-6 in favor of the Colts.
On the first drive of the second half Manning threw a 53 yard strike to Reggie Wayne for a touchdown. The rest of the quarter was nothing but punting back and forth, leaving the score at 14-6 going into the final quarter.
Colts kicker Viniatieri opened the quarter with a 22 yard field goal, score 17-6 with about 9 minutes left. The Jags answered with a nice drive for six, but failed to convert on the 2pt conversion. With the Colts up 17-12 and only 5 minutes left in the game, Manning put the nail in the coffin as he converted on some crucial 3rd down attempts to eat up the remaining time and seal the win.
Coach Juke had this to say during postgame:
"The game probably wasn't as pretty as we wanted it to be but we got the win and that's all that matters. Rain, snow, fire, we're not worried about weather conditions, we're ready to play no matter what. I know Manning was great as always, but I take pride in our defense and running game and I think that's the main reason for our 3 game winning streak. The Jags are a great team and we'll have to play them again later on. Next time it will probably be for the final playoff spot as both teams are 3-1. Now it's time to get ready for the Chiefs next week."
Game notes:
The Colts defense only allowed 34 rushing yards to one of the best HBs in the league MJD. (17 attempts for 34 yards)
Player of the game:
QB Peyton Manning (13-17, 243 yards, 1 touchdown, 0 interceptions)
Week 5:
Trade:The Colts trade SS Melvin Bullitt to the New York Jets for LOLB Bryan Thomas, adding some much needed strength and toughness to the LB position.
Colts destroy the Chiefs 42-9, tying them for 1st place in the AFC south."Not much to say, our defense and running game was just too much to handle today. We're just gonna move on and get ready for McNabb and the Redskins next week. Hopefully we can pull out a win and stay in a tie for first place in our division."
Player of the game:
QB Peyton Manning (20-28, 364 yards, 4 touchdowns, 1 interception)
Week 6:
Colts continue their dominance against the Skins to win 38-7."As soon as we saw D.J. Shockley come on the field as QB we knew we won. Peyton was great, Addai was great, defense was great. Good win for the team today. We're gonna take some time off as we head into a bye week and make our adjustments for our second game against the Texans. This time it's in our house! Our home crowd is gonna get crazy.
[glow=red,2,300]Schuab, we're coming for you."[/glow] - coach Juke
Player of the game:
QB Peyton Manning (11-17, 147 yards, 3 touchdowns, 0 interceptions.)
Week 8:
Indy's defense locks down the Texans in the 2nd half to win 30-24.Colts take away 1st place in the AFC South with a record of 6-1. (Texans 5-2)Postgame:reporter: "Coach Shark had a lot to say before this game. Do you have any words for him after this victory?"
Juke: "Coach who? I'm not familiar with that name."
reporter: "What did you guys do different from your first meeting with the Texans?
Juke: "Well we let Peyton run the hurry-up offense and call his own plays. We just let him go guns blazing, he pretty much picked apart their secondary, that's all it was."
reporter: "What adjustments did you make at half time to allow
ZERO points in the second half?
Juke: "We just got really aggressive. We stopped sitting back in our cover 2 and started blitzing on passing downs, fortunately it paid off."
Player of the game:
Peyton Manning (18-22, 226 yards, 1 touchdown, 0 interceptions)
Week 9:
Colts show Vick who the top "dog" is, beat the Eagles 36-17.Indy improves to 7-1 and holds on to 1st place for another week.Coach Juke - "We showed Vick that he needs to play like a real quarterback if he ever wants to beat us. He should go back to dogfighting."
Player of the game:
QB Peyton Manning (who else?) 8-15, 223 yards, 3 touchdowns, 0 interceptions.
Week 10:
Despite poor performance, Colts beat Bengals 21-17.Indy is now on an 8 game winning streak (8-1)"Our team made some careless mistakes today with the fumbles and all but we'll address them next practice. We're just happy to get another win. Now we're gonna get ready for the hated Patriots next week, it should be fun." - Coach Juke
Player of the game:WR Reggie Wayne (9 receptions, 126 yards, 1 touchdown)
Week 11:
Colts embarrass the Patriots in New England to win 38-3.Indy's winning streak is now at 9The Colts finally managed to get a win in New England despite the horrible weather conditions. In past years the Colts' game didn't do too well in high speed winds and snow, but today was different.
"The Patriots decided to leave Garcon in single coverage with no safety help quite a bit today, I noticed it and told him to do a couple slant-and-go routes, after he faked the slant I just threw it up there and he was able to come down with it for two huge touchdowns," Manning said.
"I know Manning had a big game again but our defense really got it done today. They forced about 3 turnovers in the red zone. We made Brady fumble 3 times and throw 3 interceptions as we allowed only 3 points so we're really happy about that. Now we gotta get ready for another elite QB in Phillip Rivers when we host San Diego next week. Hopefully we can make this a 10 game win streak," coach Juke added.
Player of the game:WR Pierre Garcon (2 receptions, 128 yards, 2 touchdowns)
Week 12:
Addai runs wild, leads Colts to a victory over the Chargers 44-14.Indy improves its winning streak to 10 games. (10-1)
Coach Juke chose not to talk to the media after the game.
Player of the game:
HB Joseph Addai (35 attempts, 227 yards, 4 touchdowns.)
Week 13:
Colts survive a scare against the Cowboys, win 28-19Indy won its 11th game in a row and counting.Indy was up by 2 with less than 2 minutes left and needed a crucial third down conversion to seal the game. Peyton made his line adjustments as usual and audibled from a HB dive to a counter; Addai took it to the house to go up by 9 and clinch the victory.
"It was a tough game today, Dallas is a great team and they have a lot of talent. We look forward to our division game against the Titans next week," Coach Juke said.
Player of the game: HB Joseph Addai (16 attempts, 83 yards, and 2 touchdowns)
Week 14:
Indy's 11 game winning streak comes to an end in Tennessee, lose 26-7.Peyton Manning and crazy weather don't mix together too well. The 13mph winds in Tennessee bothered him all game as he repeatedly over threw WIDE open receivers and threw 3 horrible interceptions.
Peyton Manning had a lot to say after the loss:
"We just showed you guys today exactly why we play in a dome. Rain, wind, snow, and all that crap is for running teams. We really need to win the rest of our games to hold onto home field advantage in the playoffs so we won't have to deal with crazy weather. I think it'll be a whole different game when we play the Titans at our house in week 17. But we give them credit, their defense really frustrated us today."
Week 15:
Colts clinch playoff berth, hold off division rival Jaguars to win 26-20Indy's offense couldn't be any happier to return home and play in their climate-controlled dome as they got back on track after a horrible performance last week in Tennessee."The Jags always play us tough, their run game is the best in the league and we're just happy that we don't have to see Maurice Jones-Drew again until next season. I think he averaged 10 yards a carry today, that guy is a beast." - Coach Juke
Player of the game:QB Peyton Manning (19-26, 238 yards, 2 touchdowns, no interceptions.)
Week 16:
Peyton Manning stages another 4th quarter comeback to beat Oakland, 14-13After throwing 2 costly interceptions in the first half, Peyton Manning bounced back in the second half as he threw two late touchdowns to help the Colts overcome a 13-0 halftime deficit to get the comeback win. Peyton spoke to the media after the game:
"We went into halftime down 13 to nothing but at that point I started to catch on to what they were doing with their coverage. Our offense came out in the second half and caught fire. We started to pick apart their secondary and I'm just proud that our guys never gave up, we showed a lot of heart today."
Player of the Game:
TE Dallas Clark (5 receptions, 101 yards, 1 touchdown)
Week 17:
Colts' back-ups get the job done, beat Titans 17-14"We're going into the postseason 100% healthy and we wanna bring that Super Bowl trophy home!" - Coach Juke
Final standing: 14 2 0 .875 461 235 8-0 6-2 4-2 10-2
PlayoffsWild card weekend - BYE week
Divisional round:
Colts rout Oakland to advance to the AFC Championship game!!
Final score: 35-14
Oakland's famous man defense has shut down offenses all year long but Dallas Clark wasn't having it. Play after play he ran precise routes and left Oakland's Thomas Howard in the dust as he caught 3 touchdowns.
In fact, it was Indy's corners that played lockdown today as they picked off Jason Campbell 5 times. 2 for back-up corner Jacob Lacey, 2 for Kelvin Hayden, and 1 for Bethea.
Coach Juke has a long history of playoff disappointments in his WCFL career, until now. His words after the game:
"It feels great to get the monkey off my back. I've finished in 1st place before but unfortunately lost in the divisional round. My first win in the playoffs really means a lot to me but we still got two more games to go, our work isn't done yet. This team has worked hard all year and they deserve to play in the AFC championship game against the Texans. I hope our home crowd will create a completely hostile environment like they did today!"
AFC Championship:
Colts' season ends at home with a loss in the AFC championship against Houston
Final score: 68 - 58
Colts fans everywhere had dreams of a Super Bowl appearance this season, but their team would come up a bit short. There couldn't have been a worse possible beginning to the game for the Colts. Houston's kick returner Jacoby Jones stunned the crowd in Indy by returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown. But it would get even worse, on the following kickoff the Colts fumbled the ball and Houston returned it for another touchdown. Ten seconds into the game Indy was facing a 14 point deficit.
It was still early, and the Colts still had hope until Peyton Manning threw an interception on his first pass, leading to another touchdown for Houston. With the score at 21 to nothing only three minutes into the game, the Colts would need another Manning miracle to win. It almost happened.
Peyton exploded in the second quarter to score 35 points, 14 of which were scored on long bombs in the final 20 seconds of the half. After two quarters the score was 42-35 in favor of Houston. Indy would receive the ball after the half and Manning threw another long touchdown to tie it up at 42 a piece after trailing by 21 points. The Texans answered right back and scored a touchdown. On the kick return, the Colts fumbled the ball and Houston returned it for a touchdown AGAIN, which basically sealed the victory.
The game is over and Houston won, but it's still fun to fantasize:
The great comeback that could've been.After the tough loss, Coach Juke had some words for the media:
"It's very disappointing, that's all I can really say. I'm proud of the way our guys played though. Despite all the God-given touchdowns the Texans got, we didn't give up. This team has heart, but we just couldn't get it done. Houston made the big plays and we didn't, that's what it all came down to. Coach Shark decided to taunt us and spit in our faces after the game and say it was 'over', but we'll be back next season. We can't wait. We'll remember this."
Off-Season (Season 2)Peyton Manning leads a historic 98 yard game-winning drive against the Super Bowl Champs
Colts win 16-14 on a game-winning field goal by Adam Viniatieri.
Under 2 minutes left, down by 1, at their own 2 yard line. It seemed impossible, but the Colts (Peyton Manning) pulled it off.
Key plays:Manning threw a strike to Dallas Clark on a 4th and 9 backed up into his own endzone. Under 1 minute left..
4th and 1 pass to Clark at the 44 to get them to the Panthers' 39 yard line. Under 30 seconds..
23 yard pass down the sideline to Collie to get them to the Panthers' 15 yard line..
A couple rushes to get to the middle of the field and the kick was good!
"That team is something else. They don't even need to score on offense to beat you. Pick 6 is their best offense, it's crazy. I told the guys that we were going to run I-form almost all game and try to run it down Carolina's throat, because if we go pass-happy against that defense it's over for us. But at the end it was Manning's arm that won us the game. What can I say, he's the greatest." - Coach Juke
What a season-opener!
Week 2:
Indy takes care of Cincinnatti, now it's on to the next one.
Final score: 42-27
Indy's lockdown defense only allowed 3 points in the second half. Peyton dominated. Freeney dominated.
Player of the game:
QB Peyton Manning (17-21, 348 yards, 4 touchdowns)
Week 3:
Colts dominate the Bills to move to 3-0
Peyton dominated. That's all you need to know.
Week 4:
Addai comes back to life as Colts beat Titans
Final score: 28 - 23
"It feels good to finally get our rushing attack going again. Addai is starting to look like he did last year and I hope he can continue to play great." - Coach Juke
Player of the game:
HB Joseph Addai (18 attempts, 144 yards, 1 touchdown)
Week 5:
Week 6:
Week 8:
Manning and Wayne have a field day, beat Tennessee
Final score: 43-31
Player of the game:Reggie Wayne - 11 receptions, 210 yards, 2 touchdowns.
"They better read a paper or something. Me, in single coverage? That's a joke," Wayne said. "Let that be a warning for coach Ragix."
"If Ragix wants some of this juggernaut, then bring it. See you next week," Coach Juke added.
easy.
Week 9:
Peyton Manning does it again, leads a game winning drive in overtime to beat the Browns
final score: 41-38
(Cleveland fans after the game begging Peyton to go to the Browns and give Clevelanders something to be proud/happy about, since LeQuit left)
A hail mary by the Browns at the end of regulation tied up the game and almost gave coach Juke a heart attack, but Peyton Manning had everything under control.
After a clutch interception by newly acquired cornerback Leigh Bodden, Manning would seal the deal with a few passes to get the Colts into field goal position. Adam Viniatieri of course nailed the field goal to win a thriller in overtime.
Reporter: "You play against Houston next week for the first time since that embarassment in the AFC title game last season, any words on that?"
"Not really. It'll be fun, we can't wait."
Week 10:
Indy's defense dominates Houston, win 33-20
When asked about Sharkdizzle's 'it's over' statement after last season's AFC title game, Coach Juke had this to say:
"It's over? (laughs) It's far from over."
Remember this?
Week 11:
Who Dat? We Dat
Colts dominate Saints, win 27-16
The Colts defense allowed no offensive touchdowns and forced Brees into 3 interceptions in the 4th quarter.
"We close out," coach Juke said. "Is that something they do down there in Green Bay?"
Week 12:
Colts use terrible towels as toilet paper, obliterate* the Steelers for first place in the AFC
Final score: 52-14
"I just wanted to say sorry to coach ninja star. It was Favre's fault" was all coach Juke had to say.
Dwight Freeney was full of jokes after the game, "How did Pittsburgh like that 'fiftyberger' as a christmas gift?"
* Obliterate - to remove or destroy all traces of; do away with; destroy completely
Week 13:
No Addai, no Saturday, no problem
Manning handles the Falcons D, Colts win 45-35
"We can't wait to play Houston next week. It's far from over." - Coach Juke
Player of the Game:
Peyton "Top Gun" Manning (305 yards, 4 touchdowns, 2 completions to the other team)
Week 14:
Bring out the brooms, Indy sweeps Houston
Colts win 45-38
The game started off as usual: Houston scoring multiple touchdowns in the first minute. But everyone knew coach Juke would make the right adjustments in the second half and somehow pull out a win.
"We never forgot how we were spat on after the AFC title game last season. Our motto this whole time has been 'it's over', because we know it's FAR from over" - coach Juke
"Go to sleep bitch," said Peyton Manning.
Peyton rebounded after throwing a pick-six on his first attempt of the game by throwing for 365 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also had a classic Peyton Manning moment by leading his team 80 yards for the game-winning touchdown with under two minutes left.
Sources say that coach Juke has decided to rest his starters for the remainder of the season, including Manning.
Week 15: