The Colts never have had a good backup for Peyton Manning.  Well he couldn’t play this year and it ruined the Colts’ season.  The Colts panicked and signed 39-year old Kerry Collins to take over for Manning.  He only last three games (0-3), before his season was over due to a nasty concussion.  Collins played in 3 games (all starts) for the Colts last year and he completed 48 of 98 passes (49%) for 481 yards with 2 TD passes and 1 INT (65.9 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 2 times for -1 yard (-0.5 ypc) last year.  Collins has now played in 197 games (180 starts) in his NFL career and he has completed 3,487 of 6,261 passes (55.7%) for 40,922 yards with 208 TD passes and 196 INTs (73.8 QB Rating).  Collins has also carried the ball 374 times for 686 yards (1.8 ypc) with 10 TD runs so far in his career.  Collins is 81-99 (45%) as a starting QB during the regular season in his NFL career.  Collins will likely retire in the off-season and stay that way.

26-year old Curtis Painter was the next guy up.  He didn’t play too well as the Colts were 0-8 in his starts.  Painter played in 9 games (8 starts) for the Colts last year and he completed 132 of 243 passes (54.3%) for 1,541 yards with 6 TD passes and 9 INTs (66.6 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 17 times for 107 yards (6.3 ypc) last year.  Painter has now played in 11 games (8 starts) in his career with the Colts and he has completed 140 of 271 passes (51.7%) for 1,624 yards with 6 TD passes and 11 INTs (60.6 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 20 times for 111 yards (5.6 ypc) so far in his NFL career.  He is nothing more than a #3 QB in the NFL.

28-year old Dan Orlovsky started the last five games for the Colts at QB and they were 2-3 (40%) in those games.  Orlovsky played in 8 games (5 starts) for the Colts last year and he completed 122 of 193 passes (63.2%) for 1,201 yards with 6 TD passes and 4 INTs (82.4 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 6 times for 5 yards (0.8 ypc) last year.  Orlovsky has now played in 21 games (12 starts) so far in his NFL career and he has completed 272 of 465 passes (58.5%) for 2,880 yards with 14 TD passes and 12 INTs (75.9 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 13 times for 34 yards (2.6 ypc) so far in his career.  Orlovsky is now 2-10 (16.7%) as a starting QB in his NFL career.

28-year old QB Dan Orlovksy has been starting slowly in games and finishing strongly in the 4th quarter.  He has played in 5 games for the Colts so far this year and he has completed 61 of 95 passes (64.2%) for 611 yards with 3 TD passes and 2 INTs (84.1 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 1 time for -1 yard so far this year.  If the Colts are going to win a game this year, they are going to need Orlovsky to play a solid game from start to finish.

33-year old WR Reggie Wayne is having an off-year, which comes as no surprise due to the QB situation for the Colts.  Wayne has been targeted 90 times by the Colts’ QBs so far this year and he caught 47 of them (52.2%).  Wayne has played in 11 games so far this year for the Colts and he has caught 47 passes for 652 yards (13.9 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  He has now played in 168 games for the Colts and he has caught 834 passes for 11,400 yards (13.7 avg) with 71 TD grabs.  I think Wayne’s production is not a sign of him slowing down, but more a result of pretty pathetic QB play from the Colts.

26-year old QB Curtis Painter has been terrible lately for the Colts.  In his last four games, Painter has completed 61 of 112 passes (54.5%) for 509 yards with 0 TD passes and 6 INTs.  Painter has now played in 8 games for the Colts this year and he has completed 117 of 214 passes (54.7%) for 1,315 yards with 5 TD passes and 7 INTs (67.4 QB Rating).  He also has carried the ball 17 times for 107 yards (6.3 ypc) so far this year.  The Colts have only scored 27 points in their last four games, so they should seriously think about replacing Painter as the starting QB.

56-year old head coach Jim Caldwell looks lost this year.  He has that deer in headlights look in his eyes right now and it’s the same look that he had when he screwed up with clock management in the playoffs last year.  This man is simply not a good coach, period.  The Colts are 0-9 on the year and they have been terrible on both sides of the ball.  The Colts should be running the ball in an effort to control the clock and keep his lousy defense off the field.  Instead, he is running the same exact offense with Curtis Painter at QB instead of Peyton Manning.  The Colts are now 24-17 (58.5%) during the regular season in Caldwell’s three years in charge, and it’s starting to look like it was all Peyton Manning’s doing in his first two years as the head coach.  He needs to get the boot after this season is over.

The Colts will be without 32-year old TE Dallas Clark for a while due to a significant leg injury.  Clark has played in 9 games for the Colts so far this year and he has caught 28 passes for 287 yards (10.3 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  26-year old Jacob Tamme will take over for Clark.  Tamme played in 9 games for the Colts so far this year and he has caught 3 passes for 7 yards (2.3 avg).  He has now played in 53 games in his first four years with the Colts and he has caught 76 passes for 685 yards (9.0 avg) with 4 TD grabs.  Tamme will likely do a decent job for the Colts, but he is no Dallas Clark.

The Colts are getting absolutely no help out of the return game this year.  Safety Joe Lefeged has returned 18 kickoffs for 332 yards (18.4 avg) and 4 punts for 17 yards (4.3 avg) so far this year.  WR Blair White has returned 7 punts for 22 yards (3.1 avg) so far this year for the Colts.  The Colts have returned 18 kickoffs for 332 yards (18.4 avg) and they have also returned 11 punts for 39 yards (3.5 avg) in 2011.  The Colts should really consider sticking someone else in to return kicks and punts to see if someone can provide a spark to the team.

The Colts need more out of the WRs.  Pierre Garcon has played pretty well since Curtis Painter has taken over at QB.  Garcon has carught 30 passes for 503 yards (16.8 avg) so far this year with 4 TD grabs.  Reggie Wayne has really missed Peyton Manning this year.  He has caught 30 passes for 426 yards (14.2 avg) with 1 TD grab.  The Colts need more from him.  Austin Collie has only caught 15 passes for 139 yards (9.3 avg) without a TD catch so far this year, and he’s a lot better than that.  The Colts need this trio to step up and play to their full abilities the rest of this year.

The Indianapolis Colts will be without starting RB Joseph Addai for the next 1-3 weeks due to a hamstring injury.  Addai has played in 5 games for the Colts so far this year and he has carried the ball 56 times for 249 yards (4.4 ypc) with 1 TD run.  He has also caught 9 passes for 65 yards (7.2 avg) so far this year.  The Colts will need rookie Delone Carter and Donald Brown to step up while Addai is out of action.  Carter has played in all 5 games for the Colts so far this year and he has carried the ball 41 times for 125 yards (3.0 ypc) with 1 TD run.  He also has caught 2 passes for 12 yards (6.0 avg) so far this year.  Donald Brown has not been used too much this year.  He has played in all five games for the Colts so far this year and he has 8 carries for 38 yards (4.8 ypc) so far this year.  The Colts are going to miss Addai as he is by far the best all around back on the Colts’ roster.

The Colts have two solid RBs but they continue to air the ball out in the passing game like they think Peyton Manning is still taking snaps.  That just isn’t smart football.  28-year old RB Joseph Addai has been really effective so far this year as he has carried the ball 22 times for 103 yards (4.7 ypc).  He has also caught 6 passes for 50 yards (8.3 avg) for the Colts.  Rookie Delone Carter has pitched in with 71 yards on 18 carries (3.9 ypc) for the Colts so far this year.  The Colts need to hand the ball to Addai and Carter in an attempt to control the clock, as Kerry Collins just doesn’t seem to be up to the challenge of throwing the ball all around the field.