Colts Week 7 Power Ranking Roundup

The Indianapolis Colts sit at 3-4 with no hope in sight going forward. They just let the worst defense in the league shut the offense down for the better part of three quarters. The root of the problems has to do with Andrew Luck and no one seems to know what the problem is.

Now there are stories about team owner Jim Irsay considering firing Chuck Pagano in the coming weeks and GM Ryan Grigson possibly going with him. There are clearly issues in the front office and with the coaching staff, but the simple fact of the matter is that if they had better QB play, this team is comfortably in the win column.

Luck has had to play hero for the past three seasons and now that he is struggling, it is magnifying the the issues with the roster and coaching that have persisted for the past few years. This is a team on the ropes and the schedule isn’t doing them any favors.

The lone positive for the Colts? The AFC South is a train wreck and they’re still in first place. It feels like seven wins will actually win them the division and get Indianapolis in the playoffs.

Today we’ve rounded up some of the best Power Rankings to get an idea of what the national media thinks of the Colts.

NFL.com, Elliot Harrison: 20th (Last week: 13th)

"The early returns are quickly becoming midseason returns — even Colts fans are acknowledging that this just isn’t a very good football team. Are the Colts horrible? No. But Indianapolis simply doesn’t have the defense, depth or special teams to overcome multiple Andrew Luck turnovers. Luck now has 10 giveaways in five games this season, and 20 in his last 12 games (going back to the beginning of last December). Moreover, Luck’s passer rating during that latter span is a not-sterling 73.6. #justthefacts"

Luck has struggled for a much longer stretch than normal. He’s not progressing through his reads like he used to and is hesitant to throw the ball. There’s a chance his shoulder is still a problem, but he’s made a number of incredible passes over these last two games that make me think he’s physically fine and mentally struggling.

I find it hard to believe that all the turmoil in the front office and the pressure on the staff to produce (which trickles down to the players) is taking a toll on everyone, but especially Luck.

ESPN: 18th (Last week: 11th)

"Andrew Luck is 1-4 as a starter this season and things aren’t getting any easier. The Colts’ next three games are against the Panthers, Broncos and Falcons, who are a combined 18-1."

Yep, Luck has played poorly and the schedule is getting tougher. The next couple games feature two top five defenses in the NFL. The Broncos especially are dangerous with the best pass rush in the NFL.

MMQB, Peter King: 19th (Last week: 17th)

"Next three games come against the 6-0 Panthers, 6-0 Broncos, 6-1 Falcons. Trouble."

Yeah, yeah really tough schedule. It also doesn’t help that they’ll only get the Broncos at home and I doubt another Peyton Manning tribute video will throw him off his game (but they might not need it anyway).

Yahoo Sports, Frank Schwab: 17th (Last week: 14th)

"Next three games: at Carolina, vs. Denver, at Atlanta. This could easily turn into 3-7. And I still don’t trust one other team in the AFC South to beat them for the division."

That’s the kicker, the Colts could be 3-7 and still leading the division. That’s how bad the other three teams in the AFC South are.

Bleacher/Report, Sean Tomlinson: 18th (Last week: 13th)

"A 7-9 team might win the AFC South. But getting there could be exceedingly painful.It’s a division currently led by the 3-4 Indianapolis Colts, a vastly underachieving team still brimming with talent. The central question throughout their plunge has been this: What’s up with quarterback Andrew Luck?Luck has always coughed up his share of interceptions, but we could partly shrug it off as the product of high-volume throwing. He threw 16 picks in 2014 on 616 attempts. That translates to Luck throwing interceptions on 2.6 percent of his throws, which is a manageable rate.Now seven games into 2015, that percentage has climbed to 4.3, shattering Luck’s previous high during his rookie season (2.9). He’s making poor decisions and trying to fit balls through narrow windows.This is when I would usually end with a damning statement about Luck needing to right himself fast to save the Colts’ season. But he can take his sweet time while the AFC South keeps stumbling."

What does Luck need to do? Maybe he should start coming off his first read and actually viewing the rest of the field. You watch him in the pocket and his head and eyes aren’t moving like they used to. His struggles before have usually come after losing a key player (Reggie Wayne in 2013, Ahmad Bradshaw in 2014) and only last for a brief amount of time.

USA Today: 16th (Last week: 10th)

"Up next? Panthers. On deck? Broncos. After that? The bye. Maybe it’s time to let Andrew Luck regroup for three weeks."

Are they suggesting that the Colts bench Luck? He’s got to work through these issues and that doesn’t happen on the bench.