Predictions Summary Projections by Position Projection Team Boxes

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Prediction: IND 20, TEN 17 (Line: IND by 7)

UPDATE: Dwayne Allen is out with his sprained knee and T.Y.Hilton is questionable after being limited in practices this week. Hilton will likely be made active but could play a very limited role with nothing to win here and his hamstring still not 100%. He’s no less risky to rely on.

This is a replay of week four when the Colts won 41-17.

To say the Colts looked under prepared and unmotivated last week is an understatement. The Colts were never remotely in the Cowboys game because that game was meaningless. Guess what – so is this one and that throws a huge blanket of doubt on this one as well though the Titans will prove less formidable than the Cowboys were. Without a first round bye, the Colts need the rest more than anything.

QUARTERBACK : Andrew Luck passed for 393 yards and four scores in the last meeting with the Titans but there is probably no chance that repeats. Luck has four scores over the last three games combined and under 200 yards in the last two weeks. He may stay long enough to get a win but he’ll be a constant risk of getting pulled like last week regardless of the score this time.

RUNNING BACK : Trent Richardson ran for 47 yards and a score on his 20 carries versus the Titans last time but has been nearly phased out of the offense in recent weeks. Dan Herron holds the Ahmad Bradshaw role but struggles to post 60 total yards per week and has just one score – at home versus the Redskins. When Bradshaw left, he took the air out of what this unit accomplished and it is quickly becoming the worst in the league.

WIDE RECEIVER : T.Y. Hilton was held out with a hamstring injury last week but may play – but for how long? If Hilton has a hint of reinjury he’ll be gone. He’s better off getting 100% healthy for the playoffs so anything he does is going to be hard to predict. This could be a nice spot to get more work for Hakeem Nicks who totaled nine catches for 72 yards in Dallas and Donte Moncrief who has been ice cold other than his big two touchdown game against the Redskins.

TIGHT END : Dwayne Allen sprained his knee and is day-to-day. That suggests he’ll be held out this week to get healthy for the playoffs since he has battled dings and dents the entire season. Coby Fleener was on a nice streak around midseason but has been cool the last three games with no scores and around 35 yards per week. Fleener caught two passes for 26 yards and a score versus the Titans in week four. Allen accounted for three receptions for 38 yards and a score in that game as well.

MATCH TO THE DEFENSE: This is all set-up so that what should happen is a nice to big game by Dan Herron against a horrible rushing defense and Luck could once again pick this defense apart but probably won’t. I’ll assume a cameo for Hilton and expect the passing to favor Nicks and Wayne again with Coby Fleener looking very interesting if Allen is out. Great matchup and bad situation with the Colts clinching already.

Ken Whisenhunt’s first year as the headcoach could have gone better but at least there is a very high draft pick waiting in April to use – maybe even the #1. The youth movement did not produce much in the way of good results thanks mostly to an ineffective offensive line and a constantly changing situation at quarterback. But Whisenhunt gets the standard one free year for rebuilding and just needs to put it together better next season. This has been one of the worst teams for fantasy points for the entire season.

QUARTERBACK : Zach Mettenberger will start next year and he had five full games before a shoulder injury forced him out but he’ll be back as good as new next season. He threw eight touchdowns in those five weeks and doubled in three of them while tossing one interception in every game that he played. Mettenberger threw for around 300 yards and two scores in two different games and showed promise.

The Jake Locker era is over and Charlie Whitehurst finishes out the year. Whitehurst passed for 177 yards and one score in the week four meeting with the Colts.

RUNNING BACK : Bishop Sankey was the first back drafted – albeit in the worst NFL draft ever for the position since he was taken deeper in the second round than any first back ever had. He enters his final game with only 148 carries for 551 yards and a 3.7 YPC. The jury is still out on Sankey because of the state of the offensive line and the fact that no back ever ran well for the Titans this year. Sankey never carried the ball more than 18 times in any game and was limited to only 11 or fewer in all but three games.

The Titans insisted on a rotation as if it made some difference (it didn’t) and Dexter McCluster left the Chiefs for the Tennessee so that the Titans could be the new team that never figured out how to use him successfully. Shonn Greene was a big part of the offense in the earlier weeks and he still is used much more than common sense would suggest. He enters the final week with 83 runs for 298 yards and a 3.5 YPC. Leon Washington also popped up from time to time just to water down the meager production even more.

Back in week four, Greene ran for ten yards on three carries while Sankey gained 34 yards on six carries with one touchdown.

WIDE RECEIVER : Justin Hunter was positioned for a breakout year but left in week 13 with a lacerated spleen. He only caught 28 passed for 498 yards and three scores and like the other wideouts turned in a few really nice games along with more than a few duds. Kendall Wright is playing with a broken hand and managed four catches for 73 yards in Jacksonville last week. Wright leads the team with five receiving touchdowns though only one since week seven. Nate Washington has just two scores but usually shows up for 50 yards or so. In week four, Hunter managed just one catch for 14 yards and Kendall Wright ended with five receptions for 55 yards. Washington turned in just one catch for 20 in that game.

TIGHT END : Delanie Walker ends his best season ever with already 56 catches for 847 yards and four scores. He started the year hot as do many tight ends and then cooled after the first month when he already had three scores. Since week four, Walker only has two games over 60 yards and dipped below 30 yards in three different games. Walker accounted for five receptions for 84 yards and a score in week four versus the Colts.

MATCH TO THE DEFENSE: Which Colts team shows up and does it matter anyway? The only realistic fantasy play here is Wright and Washington looking for moderate to good yardage. Nothing else here has more reward than risk.

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