The Indianapolis Colts are the odds-on favorites to win the 2014 AFC South, and it\u2019s easy to see why. They went 11-5 this past season\u2014the best record in the division by a relative longshot\u2014and with a guy like Andrew Luck leading the way, it\u2019s tough to picture the Houston Texans, Tennessee Titans or Jacksonville Jaguars taking over as the team to beat. <\/p>\n
2013 Record: 11-5<\/strong>
\n ATS: 10-6<\/strong>
\n Colts Odds to win the 2015 AFC South Division: 1\/2<\/strong>
\n Colts Odds to win the 2015 AFC Conference: 6\/1<\/strong>
\n Colts Odds to win the 2015 Super Bowl: 14\/1<\/strong>
\n [dfads params=’groups=63740&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\nLet\u2019s take a look at the numbers<\/h3>\n
In 2013, Luck threw for 23 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He completed 60.2 percent of his passes for 3,822 yards, and he earned a Passer (QB) Rating of 87.0\u201413.5 points better than his rookie season.<\/p>\n
Luck\u2019s numbers aren\u2019t symbolic of a true franchise QB, but that has more to do with the players he\u2019s throwing to than the balls he\u2019s throwing.<\/p>\n
\nCLICK to GRAB OUR BEST Expert Sports & Football Picks for 2014 GAMBLING!<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n
This year, however, his targets will include former New York Giant Hakeem Nicks, whom the Colts signed in free agency. Nicks\u2019 best season came back in 2010 when he caught 11 touchdowns and went for 1,052 yards, and if he can return to anything close to that form, he\u2019ll give Indy a legitimate first option in the receiving core.<\/p>\n
Also on the outside will be third-year player T.Y. Hilton. He caught 82 passes for five scores last season. Outside Hilton and Nicks, Luck will have to look toward the tight ends. Coby Fleener and Dwayne Allen will be an excellent tandem for Luck to target.<\/p>\n
Like the depth of the receiving core, running back is a problem. Trent Richardson did virtually nothing for the team last season, rushing for three touchdowns in 14 games, and while Ahmad Bradshaw is a big name for a backup, he\u2019s clearly past his prime.
\n[soliloquy id=”82219″]
\nDefensively, this group should have a solid presence on the line. They\u2019ve gained depth this offseason, including former Baltimore Raven Arthur Jones, who could ultimately become a starter.<\/p>\nMoving further back, the team is going to look to make up the loss of Robert Mathis, who has been suspended for the first four games of the year. The team\u2019s first draft pick, Bjoem Werner, could show an immediate impact, but if he doesn\u2019t, the loss of Mathis will mean that much more.<\/p>\n
In the secondary, another loss was suffered when Antoine Bethea spurned Indianapolis for the San Francisco 49ers. The Colts don\u2019t have anybody on the roster with the talent Bethea possessed, making finding a replacement difficult at this point in the process.<\/p>\n
Cornerback, however, should prove to be deep, as Vontae Davis should be leading the way with Darius Butler and Greg Toler behind him. Toler missed significant time in 2013 with an injury, so as long as he can stay healthy in 2014, depth at the position shouldn\u2019t be a problem.<\/p>\n
Colts Betting Outlook:<\/h3>\n
As much as we want to say this team\u2019s outlook is all about Luck, the team simply needs help at other positions. There\u2019s no denying that Luck is the leader of this team (and that he\u2019s going to account for numerous wins seemingly on his own), but as we\u2019ve seen already in his short time with the Colts organization, he needs players around him to step up if they\u2019re going to go from good to great.<\/p>\n
Along with improvements from both Luck and the rest of the crew, this team has a friendly schedule at its disposal. That alone should account for at least one more win than last season, making a 12-4 record a reasonable target in 2014.<\/p>\n
With training camps next up for the NFL betting offseason Cappers Picks NFL Football handicappers<\/a> have been hard at work putting out the team by team Football Predictions<\/a> and NFL Season Previews<\/a> for those of us who can\u2019t wait.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Bet on the Super Bowl XLIX winner, plus 2014\/15 Conference and Divisional winners today.<\/p>\n
CHECK OUT OUR BEST NFL HANDICAPPERS FOR 2014 – click here now!<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
2014 Indianpolis\u00a0Predictions The Indianapolis Colts are the odds-on favorites to win the 2014 AFC South, and it\u2019s easy to see why. They went 11-5 this past season\u2014the best record in the division by a relative longshot\u2014and with a guy like Andrew Luck leading the way, it\u2019s tough to picture the Houston Texans, Tennessee Titans or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":64624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[62616,8844,30226,31737,63131,63132,2244,1618,62542,8532],"class_list":["post-80391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl","tag-2015-super-bowl-lines","tag-afc-championship-lines","tag-afc-south-lines","tag-afc-south-picks","tag-colts-2014-predictions","tag-colts-2015-super-bowl-futures","tag-indianapolis-colts","tag-nfl-futures","tag-odds-to-win-superbowl-xlix","tag-super-bowl-futures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80391"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80413,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80391\/revisions\/80413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}