Hello world! I was out of ideas of 500 word topics to write about so I decided to write about my favorite NFL team, the Indianapolis Colts and my belief on how thy were so successful last year.

Of course anyone even a little into the football world has heard of the one and only #18 Peyton Manning. Peyton was a huge factor last year because he not only wanted the Super Bowl to have bragging rights, but he was afraid that he would turn out be another Dan Marino. (A great quarterback who never played in a Super Bowl) So Peyton played all last year with both heart and talent, he just wanted it more than anyone else. Peyton also is arguably the best QB in the league right now. Peyton can take hits better than Vince Young, can throw about as accurate as Brett Farve and is smarter than anyone else. For example my family and I call Peyton the "Audible King" because he will change the play based on what he sees in the defense. Therefore usually giving him the advantage because he can change things to give the offense he upper hands. BUT who's a great quarterback without a good receiver?

When you say great QB you usually associate a great receiver with him. Jake Delhomme had Keyshawn Johnson and Steve Smith, Steve Young and Jerry Rice, etc. Well it's no different story for the Colts, but they have several. Peyton Manning likes to hook up with #88 Marvin Harrison and together they share the all-time record for TD's thrown to each other. Peyotn also can hook up with #87 Reggie Wayne. The greatest thing about this combination is that there is 2 parts to Peyton's pass options. If Marvin is shut down then Peyton can throw it to Reggie and in the case that they both are covered Peyton can go underneath and find the Tight End #44 Dallas Clark. Dallas is a lot like Antonio Gates in the way that he plays. Dallas is an athletic TE that can play as a TE, receiver or slot with ease because he can catch well for his postion and runs very good routes. Many times big games have been determined by whether Dallas Clark has had a good game. Yet, what is a good passing game if it has nothing to support it?

When the passing game isn't there the Colts fall on there 2 phenomenal halfbacks #29 rookie Joesph Addai and #33 Dominic Rhodes. These 2 can pick apart nearly every and any defense with their different running styles. This helps since Peyton throws about every other play and sometimes needs to give it to the halfback so the defense will bite. Joesph Addai was the Colts 1st round draft pick out of LSU in the 2006-2007 season. He had to be a special player for the Colts to use him as a replacement for Edgerrin James trade after losing him to trade. Everyone expected a lot out of the agile rookie Joesph Addai. Now Dominic Rhodes also had a lot to prove in the 2006-2007 season. For years Dominic Rhodes played under Edgerrin James. He probably had heard from critics that the Colts were going to have a tough time with 2 essentially rookie halfbacks. However these 2 ended up being a great combination that together could confuse a terrific defense with their different styles of runing. However great these runningbacks were there was a lot more than these 6 carrying the Colts last year.

However good the offense is doing they can't win all by themselves. They need someone else to step up and give them a break. There were several anchors on the Colts defense last year. One anchor was there franchise player Defense End #93 Dwight Freeney. Dwight Freeney is a very good pass rusher who probably gets in the heads of several QBs and Tackles the night before a game. He is usually a leader in the leauge every year in sacks. Some other key anchors were Strong Safety #20 Michael Doss and Free Safety #21 Bob Sanders. The Colts team last year finished the regular season dead last in rush defense last year. The only way they could stop every play from going for a TD was their safeties who many times had to step up and stop a TD. It wasn't that the Colts always played with really bad players they just could have started with different ones. When Stronside LineBacker #94 Rob Morris was made a starter (after the Colts gave up 350 rushing yards to the same team) the scrub was pulled off the bench and helped to drop the teams average rushing yards per game by 50 yards. Believe it or not the Colts had another key factor last year.

The Colts picked up a very valuable player last year's offseason in Kicker Adam Vinateri. Adam is an extremely powerful, accurate and iced K. Yeah, I said iced meaning he does very well under pressure. Adam Vinateri won the Super Bowl with the Patriots several years back by making a kick as time expired. Is that pressure or what!?! I' m serious when I say that he had the work of an entire season put on his shoulders and you have one chance to boot the ball through the uprights and win the Super Bowl. He was a huge point in the Colts success last year with his high percentage of made field goals.

I hope now you have a better understanding of how I belive the Colts did so well last year and watch for some of the people I listed off and GO COLTS!