While the Indianapolis Colts start preparing for next season, the team already knows who they will be playing in the 2023 season.
On Sunday, the NFL regular season ended and only 14 teams made it through to the postseason. For the league’s other 18 teams, their attention is turned towards improving for the 2023 season so that they’ll be in the playoffs next year. While it’s still extremely early, and an offseason of moves awaits the NFL, teams already know who they’ll be playing next season. They know which games will be at home and which will be on the road, just not when the games will be. That will be announced in the spring.
For the Indianapolis Colts, that means Indy knows exactly the teams it will need to beat in order to regain respect in the NFL. Of course, the Colts will have six games against the rest of the AFC South. Two against the Houston Texans, two against the Jacksonville Jaguars, and two against the Tennessee Titans. With those six games accounted for, Indy will have 11 other opponents.
Since the Colts had nine away games in the 2022 season, they will have nine home games in 2023. In addition to the three divisional home matchups, Indianapolis will host the Cleveland Browns, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the New Orleans Saints, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Las Vegas Raiders, and the Los Angeles Rams.
On the road, besides divisional opponents, Indy will take on the Baltimore Ravens, the Cincinnati Bengals, the Atlanta Falcons, the Carolina Panthers, and the New England Patriots.
Our 2023 opponents are set. pic.twitter.com/80j2SIAnRI
— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) January 9, 2023
Colts 2023 opponents
Of the 14 opponents, Indianapolis will only be playing four teams that made the postseason this year. Those four teams are the Jaguars, the Buccaneers, the Ravens, and the Bengals. Additionally, Indy will only have four opponents that had winning records this season: Jacksonville, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Cincinnati. While things change from season to season, this isn’t a stacked group of opponents based on their 2022 season record.
Combined, the 14 opponents have a 105-131-1 record. That means Indianapolis shouldn’t have that tough of a schedule. But again, everything changes from year to year. Teams could drastically improve over the offseason or significantly regress. After finishing this season with a 4-12-1 record, many teams are probably looking at the Colts as an inferior opponent. However, Indy is planning to get better throughout the offseason so that it can dominate next year.
Legitimate head coach candidates that should be on the Colts radar
The Indianapolis Colts will spend the early part of the offseason searching for a head coach. There are a number of respectable options to consider.