Game Preview - Week 8: Indianapolis Colts at Carolina Panthers

Indianapolis: Is this game really necessary? Can we just get to the Colts-Patriots matchup next week, already? Well, since they're going to play it, we might as well talk about it. The Colts are coming off an impressive win at Jacksonville in which they dominated every phase of the game. What impresses most is their improvement on defense this season (ranked 3rd) and is reason enough to anoint them the number one team in the league (sorry Patriots fans). And while the offense is not blowing people away they are clearly head and shoulders above most team in the league. It appears Kenton Keith (15 carries last week) may take on the Dominic Rhodes' role and spell Jospeh Addai more than originally anticipated which is a good thing for the Colts and bad thing for Addai owners. Ohh, and as far as this game is concerned… in a nutshell, the Colts are a better team and therefore will win the game.

Start: QB Peyton Manning, RB Joseph Addai, WR Reggie Wayne, WR Marvin Harrison, TE Dallas Clark, K Adam Vinatieri
Consider: RB Kenton Keith
Sit: WR Anthony Gonzalez

Carolina: In case you haven't noticed, the Panthers are in first place in the NFC South despite playing three different quarterbacks. It appears David Carr will be ready this week but check reports later in the week to see if the ageless Vinny Testaverde gets another call. Testaverde did perform surprisingly well against Arizona two weeks ago throwing for 200 yards, 1 TD, and no picks, which could be causing head, coach John Fox to waffle on his decision. "I'm not hiding anything. I'm just not totally sure yet," Fox said. "One guy hasn't practiced in quite some time and the other guy is fairly new. So we'll keep you posted." In any case, it would be a tall task regardless of who starts at quarterback for the Panthers for them to overtake the Colts. After all, its destiny the Colts and Patriots meet undefeated in Week 9 and no team from Carolina is going to ruin the latest "matchup of the century."

Start: WR Steve Smith
Consider: RB DeShaun Foster, TE Jeff King
Sit: RB DeAngelo Williams, WR Drew Carter WR Keary Colbert, WR Dwayne Jarrett

Krueger's Rankings/Projections

Indianapolis Colts
Rank	Player	Projections
QB 2	Peyton Manning	Pass: 275, 2 Rush: 0, 0
RB 10	Joseph Addai	Rush: 75, 1 Rec: 4-25, 0
RB 22	Kenton Keith	Rush: 55, 1 Rec: 1-10, 0
WR 2	Reggie Wayne	Rec: 9-115, 1
WR 32	Anthony Gonzalez	Rec: 4-60, 0
WR 57	Marvin Harrison	Rec: 1-20, 0
TE 8	Dallas Clark	Rec: 3-40, 0

Carolina Panthers
Rank	Player	Projections
QB 21	Vinny Testaverde	Pass: 215, 1 Rush: 0, 0
RB 26	DeShaun Foster	Rush: 65, 0 Rec: 2-15, 0
RB 38	DeAngelo Williams	Rush: 20, 0 Rec: 1-5, 0
WR 4	Steve Smith	Rec: 7-100, 1
WR 45	Keary Colbert	Rec: 3-35, 0
WR 64	Drew Carter	Rec: 1-20, 0
TE 19	Jeff King	Rec: 3-25, 0

View all Week 8 Rankings or Projections

Past Results and Remaining Schedule

Indianapolis Colts
Week	Date	Opp	H/A	Score	Dif
1	2007-09-06	NO	H	W 41-10	+31
2	2007-09-16	TEN	A	W 22-20	+2
3	2007-09-23	HOU	A	W 30-24	+6
4	2007-09-30	DEN	H	W 38-20	+18
5	2007-10-07	TB	H	W 33-14	+19
6		Bye
7	2007-10-22	JAC	A	W 29-7	+22
8	2007-10-28	CAR	A	W 31-7	+24
9	2007-11-04	NE	H
10	2007-11-11	SD	A
11	2007-11-18	KC	H
12	2007-11-22	ATL	A
13	2007-12-02	JAC	H
14	2007-12-09	BAL	A
15	2007-12-16	OAK	A
16	2007-12-23	HOU	H
17	2007-12-30	TEN	H

Carolina Panthers
Week	Date	Opp	H/A	Score	Dif
1	2007-09-09	STL	A	W 27-13	+14
2	2007-09-16	HOU	H	L 21-34	-13
3	2007-09-23	ATL	A	W 27-20	+7
4	2007-09-30	TB	H	L 7-20	-13
5	2007-10-07	NO	A	W 16-13	+3
6	2007-10-14	ARI	A	W 25-10	+15
7		Bye
8	2007-10-28	IND	H	L 7-31	-24
9	2007-11-04	TEN	A
10	2007-11-11	ATL	H
11	2007-11-18	GB	A
12	2007-11-25	NO	H
13	2007-12-02	SF	H
14	2007-12-09	JAC	A
15	2007-12-16	SEA	H
16	2007-12-22	DAL	H
17	2007-12-30	TB	A

Offense Stats Comparison

	IND Offense	CAR Offense	NFL Average
Points for	30.7	20.7	21.9
Rushing yards	126.7	120.7	111.0
Rushing yards per attempt	4.27	4.51	4.09
Completion %	69.8%	57.7%	62.2%
Passing yards	255.3	162.0	219.7
Passing yards per completion	10.49	10.11	10.63
Passing yards per attempt	7.32	5.83	6.61
Interceptions	0.7	0.7	1.1
Fumbles lost	0.0	0.3	0.7
Sacked	1.0	2.7	2.2

Note: Team statistics are shown as the average per game through Weeks 2 to 7 of the 2007 season after deducting the best and worst value from the data set. The exception is yards per rush attempt, completion %, yards per pass completion, yards per pass attempt and the NFL averages, which are each calculated based on totals through Weeks 2 to 7 with no adjustment.

Defense Stats Comparison

	IND Defense	CAR Defense	NFL Average
Points against	18.0	17.7	21.9
Rushing yards	99.3	102.7	111.0
Rushing yards per attempt	4.27	3.88	4.09
Completion %	66.0%	64.1%	62.2%
Passing yards	154.3	218.3	219.7
Passing yards per completion	8.27	10.69	10.63
Passing yards per attempt	5.46	6.85	6.61
INT return	1.3	0.7	1.1
Fumble recoveries	0.7	1.3	0.7
Sacks	2.3	0.3	2.2

Weather

Check the current weather forecast for Carolina from Weather.com.

Team vs. Team History

Indianapolis Colts vs. Carolina Panthers
Season	Week	Date	Vis	Home	Score	Winner
2003	6	2003-10-12	CAR	IND	23-20	CAR

Note: Only playoff games from the 2004 to 2006 seasons are included in the team vs. team history. Playoff games from seasons prior to 2004 are not currently included in the database.

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