26-year old Joseph Addai is going to need to pick it up in 2010 or he is going to lose more carries to Donald Brown.  Addai played in 15 games for the Colts last season and he carried the ball 219 times for 828 yards (3.8 ypc) with 10 TD runs.  He also caught 51 passes for 336 yards (6.6 avg) with 3 TD grabs last year.  Addai has had a good career so far with the Colts but he needs to prove that he can handle a full workload.  He has now played in 58 games for the Colts in his career and he has carried the ball 861 times for 3,525 yards (4.1 ypc) with 34 TD runs.  Addai also has caught 157 passes for 1,231 yards (7.8 avg) with 9 TD grabs in his career. 

31-year old DE Raheem Brock might be called on to replace Dwight Freeney in the starting line-up if he can’t go on Sunday.  He has played in 2 games in the playoffs this season and he has 7 tackles, 1 forced fumble and he has defensed 1 pass.  Brock played in all 16 games during the regular season for the Colts in which he made 32 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 3.5 sacks and 1 pass defensed.  I have a feeling that Raheem Brock has a good game left in him and that he will do a solid job if called upon to start in the Super Bowl.

When the Colts got rid of Edgerrin James a couple of years ago they thought that Joseph Addai was ready to shoulder the complete load in the running game.  They appear to have been wrong as Addai has not excelled as the main man in the running game.  Addai has played in 13 games this season and he has carried the ball 197 times for 729 yards (3.7 ypc) with 9 TD runs and he has also caught 48 passes for 322 yards (6.7 avg) with 3 TD grabs.  Addai wouldn’t have gotten as much playing time this season if rookie first round pick Donald Brown hadn’t gotten hurt.  Look for Addai to have to battle Brown next year to keep his role as the featured back.  Until then they need Addai to pick up his game or teams will come right after Peyton Manning in the playoffs.

The Colts can’t depend on Peyton Manning to win every game this season.  They will need to find some kind of a running game to help balance the offense a little bit more.  Joseph Addai has carried the ball 62 times for only 210 yards (3.4 ypc) with 3 TD runs this season.  He has not responded to the fact that the Colts used a first round pick on someone that plays his position.  Donald Brown is the rookie who should be pushing Addai more but he has carried the ball 44 times for only 154 yards (3.5 ypc) so far this season.  The Colts are only averaging 78.8 yards rushing per game and 3.3 yards per carry and that just isn’t good enough to get the job done.  Addai and Brown have combined to catch 33 passes for 291 yards (8.8 avg) with 1 TD grab so at least they are helping out a little bit in the passing game but the Colts expected much more out of this pair.