QB

Peyton Manning

(+) The most consistent fantasy QB to ever play the game and can adapt to any situation in front of him
(+) In the past 4 years (2006-09), Manning has exactly 9 multi-TD games each year regardless of full games played. The 2 years before that? 10 & 14
(+) Has finished in the Top-6 in fantasy points for the past decade straight.  1st place – once  2nd – twice  3rd – twice  4th – 3 times  5th – none  6th – twice
(+) The Colts have the easiest pass schedule in the NFL, Manning never misses/doesn’t start a game, and hes five/six solid to dominant receiving options to throw to
(+) Threw the most completions and highest comp% in his career in 2009, plus the 2nd most TDs and 2nd most yards he’s ever thrown
(–) Losing the Super Bowl could end up being a distraction
(–) Owner Bill Polian still backs the idea of sitting starters at the end of a season in meaningless

RB

Joseph Addai

(+) His stats show him to be one of the more disrespected RBs in the league
(+) Plays in a prolific scoring offense and has a nose for the end-zone
(+) Can do anything asked of him and can play on every down, even if it’s just in pass protection
(+) Contract year!
(–) Donald Brown is a really talented young RB and happens to be breathing down his neck
(–) Addai doesn’t have the speed to break the long one
(–) Doesn’t appear to be the guy necessary to get Indy over the hump

Donald Brown

(+) Addai has a history of injuries while Donald Brown has some nice tools with breakaway speed and a knack for the passing game
(+) Indianapolis obviously wants him to be involved quite a bit.  They drafted him in the first round last year despite already having Joe Addai
(–) He is unproven and was injured twice last year, thus limiting his production
(–) With Peyton at QB, Indy does not run enough (last in rushing yards/game from ’08-’09) to feed two RBs and barring injury, Joe Addai will be a big part of what they do
(–) The Colts O-Line struggles big time in the run game (28th overall PYRO rank in run blocking)

WR

Reggie Wayne

(+) Has Peyton Manning as his QB and the easiest schedule for receivers in the NFL
(+) Will not have to go up against Darrelle Revis like he did in 2009
(+) Hasn’t missed a game in 8 seasons and averaged 88.7 receptions for 1,249 yards and 8.7 TDs over the past 6 years
(+) Multiple solid skill-position players around him leaves him in single-coverage most of the time
(+) Reggie led the league in targets inside the opponents’ 5-yard line
(–) If the Colts have their playoff position locked up, Bill Polian still tends to sit his star players at the end of the season
(–) Will face Nnamdi Asomugha (OAK) in Week 16 (Fantasy Super Bowl) if he doesn’t sit

Pierre Garcon

(+) Pierre will likely be the WR2 on a team playing with the best quarterback in the game
(+) He has the best speed of all the WRs on the Colts, which makes him Peyton Manning’s deep threat (SOLID!)
(+) The Colts have the easiest schedule against the pass in the league
(–) With Anthony Gonzalez coming back, Indy now has 5 legit receivers to throw to – Good for Peyton, bad for Garcon
(–) Pierre never had more than 6 catches in a game during the regular season (although he did have 11 in the playoff game against the Jets with Revis Island on Wayne)

Austin Collie

(+) Peyton Manning, and if you get confused, repeat this over and over and over and over and…
(+) Peyton Manning, and if you get confused……….
(+) Indianapolis has the easiest pass schedule in the league (disgusting, we know), and teams WILL NOT be able to stop the Colts in coverage
(–) Anthony Gonzalez should be back this year and could steal targets/playing time from Collie

Anthony Gonzalez

(+) Peyton Manning, and if you get confused, repeat this over and over and over and over and…
(+) Peyton Manning, and if you get confused……….
(+) Indianapolis has the easiest pass schedule in the league (disgusting, we know), and teams WILL NOT be able to stop the Colts in coverage
(–) Big question mark on Gonzalez, as we keep hearing about potential, but he continues to leave that promise unfulfilled; he won’t make any lists next year at this pace

TE

Dallas Clark

(+) Has some of the best hands for a tight end in the game
(+) Peyton Manning – Plus the Colts have the easiest pass schedule in the league
(+) Has become the go-to guy in a high-volume passing offense
(+)Just put up numbers that have rarely been accomplished by the best wide receivers in the game
(+)His speed and size are a constant mismatch for LBs/Safetys
(–) Will have to compete for targets with all the talent around him
(–) Possibility of sitting out the last couple games due to Bill Polian

-  The Indianapolis Colts came off the 2008 season in which they finished 12-4 and lost to the
      San Diego Chargers in the playoffs, In 2009 they were looking to return to Superbowl form
-  The Colts started the season 14-0 before coach Caldwell decided that the team was better off
      saving itself for the playoffs rather than trying to be undefeated
-  The Colts finished the season first in the AFC South with a 14-2 record earning themselves the
      number 1 seed in the AFC and reaching the Superbowl where they were defeated by the Saints
-  The Colts scored 416 points while allowing 307 points against

2009 Total Points Rank:         34th (38 tot pts)
2009 Average/Game Rank:     21st (6.3 pts/gm)

Vinatieri, Stover, and Andrus Combined...

2009 Total Points Rank:          12th (108 tot pts)
2009 Average/Game Rank:      15th (6.8 pts/gm)

FR=Fumbles Recoverd, PA=Points Allowed, FP Rank=Fantasy Points Rank, FP/G=Fantasy Points per Game

2010 Colts Defensive Outlook... 

Peyton Manning’s ridiculous skill has ensured the NFL fanbase that they will know these names, Dwight Freeney, Robert Mathis, Antoine Bethea, and Bob Sanders.  That’s not to take anything away from that group, they’re all very good players, they’re just more well known cause we get to see them on prime time regularly. 

They should help lead this defense in being fairly effective against the run and pass (10^th and 13^th respecitively) and that should be more than enough to get all our eyes on them several times again this year, including in January.  They were mediocre in turnovers, though Bob Sanders should help that number out, assuming he can stay on the field. 

-  Clint Sessions led the team with 103 tackles, Gary Brackett had 99
-  The Colts had 34 sacks last season
-  Leading sacker was Dwight Freeney with 13.5
-  How can the Colts defense return to Superbowl form and bring it back to Indy
-  Antoine Bethea led the team with 4 INTs
-  Team forced 14 fumbles
-  Team forced a total of 30 turnovers

Team PYRO is hyper about Offensive Lines!  Understanding who will be blocking for the players on your roster is vital to your teams Fantasy success.  We take many factors into account when we rank these units, including weight, height, starts together as a unit, starts per year played, rushing average, sacks allowed, draft position, contact situation, pro bowl/all pro honors, Adjusted Line Yardage (ALY) and Adjusted Sack Rate (stats found at the link below).  O-Line Rank is one more piece of the puzzle that directs us towards delivering you a Fantasy Football Championship. 

Here is another great resource for looking at O-Lines…    http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ol

The fantasy lifeblood of the players sitting on your roster boils down to one EXTREMELY important stat.  Drum Roll please……………………………  ATTEMPTS!!!!  Ahhhh, there, we said it.  Before you can make a play, you gotta have the pill in your hands.  It’s pretty simple really, in the immortal words of the maligned Keyshawn Johnson… “Just give me the damn ball”.  There is no “I” in the word “team”, but don’t fool yourself, it’s in the word rotisserie twice. 

For the QB, it’s Pass Attempts, for the RB, it’s Carries, and for the WR and TE, it’s Targets.  If you look at the players in the league who are amassing large quantities of points, they are the ones who are seeing the rock come their way the most often.  Sure, you have to be good enough to do something with the p-skin when you get it, but never forget, you can’t make a play until you have the pill in your hands. 

The PYRO Offensive scheme charts aim to deliver you perhaps the most important information you could attain before and after draft day; Will my player get the chances they need to put out or will they be shut out?  It really boils down to what the offensive game plan on Sunday is.  These charts should provide some perspective on which teams are going to live by land and which are going to live by air. 

By Air

-  Peyton Manning is Peyton Manning and had another season in which he was arguably the top signal caller
        in the game
-  The Colts finished last season ranking 2nd in the league with 4,515 passing yards
-  Reggie Wayne continues to be a consistent performer week in and week out
-  Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie emerged as solid receivers in the Colts offense last season. Anthony Gonzalez
        will also be returning from injury to round out the WR corps
-  The TE position is one of the best with Dallas Clark at the top
-  Joseph Addai is a very effective receiver out of the backfield

By Land

-  The Colts ranked last in the league with 1,294 yards on the ground
-  The Texans have a proven running back at the top and a young one who is continuing to try and prove
        himself at the top level
-  Joseph Addai was the team’s leading rusher last season and is slated as the starter
-  Donald Brown will enter his second season with the Colts and hope to be a more effective runner heading into 2010

RZ Touches (Position Rank) = The first number you see is Red Zone Touches (a pass attempt, a carry, or a target inside the 20 yard line).  The number in the parentheses is where this player ranks amongst the rest of the NFL at that position.

% of Teams RZ Touches (Position Rank) = The first number is the players percentage of touches cut out against the total number of the Teams Red Zone plays called.  The number in the parentheses is where this player ranks amongst the rest of the NFL at that position.  So, if Thomas Jones received a touch in 45 percent of the Jets Red Zone calls last year, and Knowshon Moreno received a touch in 38 percent of all the Broncos plays last year, Jones would be ranked higher at his position than Moreno would be.

RZ TD Success Rate (Position Rank) = The first number is the percentage of which an individual player was able to score a TD against his total number of touches.   The number in the parentheses is where this player ranks amongst the rest of the NFL at that position.

Why Should I look at this Chart?

We couldn’t possibly take up a whole minute of your valuable fantasy football research time babbling about the importance of Attempts for your team and then leave out Red Zone Tendencies.

Yep, same drill with these charts, only a lot more important if scoring TD’s is what you’re leagues about.  The PYRO Red Zone Tendencies chart delivers a touchdown focused microcosm of the Offensive Scheme section.

To score a TD, your player needs a touch (pass att, carry, or target), and when they get a touch inside the 20, great things can happen for your Fantasy teams total points line.

It’s really easy, touches are King and converting a touch in the red is Fantasy Gold.

PYRO 2010 Colt Leaders in the Red Zone...

1. Joe Addai
2. Donald Brown
3. Reggie Wayne
4. Dallas Clark
5. Pierre Garcon

Grade* = Team PYRO took this number directly from NFL.COM - not a number devised here by us, you know, your friends who don’t sleep?  In other words, proceed with caution knowing the source, but we thought it was at least a worthy effort and could help you gauge just how solid the teams draft was.  We hope it helps, we think it will.

Draft Bits...

They’re too strong all around and drafted very little on offense, there is nothing of Fantasy relevance to report with this draft.

Team PYRO considers our Strength of Schedule data an essential part of building you a Fantasy Championship.  This data is integral in helping us rank our players each year.  So far, so good.  We go to GREAT lengths to deliver you this PYRO nugget and we know nobody else in the industry is putting forth this type of effort, which puts you at a great advantage if you have been using us as your fantasy football research outlet.  Our SoS considers three factors when determining rankings for schedules for the upcoming year:

1) 75% weight is applied to the strength of defense from the previous season.  This is determine by fantasy points given up (run and pass).  Easy right? Here's where Team Pyro goes deep: before we get to that number, we factor in the quality of teams that these defenses had to face (essentially, a strength-of-schedule for the prior season).

 
2) 20% weight is applied to Free-Agent, Trade, and Injury Returns that will help or hurt the team for the current year.  We rank each players impact to their former team (2008), sum it all up, and then rank each team accordingly.

3) 5% weight is applied to the NFL drafincoming rookie impact.  It's a challenge to successfully gauge a rookie's effectiveness (too many Jamarcus Russells out there) which is why we valued it so low.  Some teams not only drafted highly touted defensemen this year, but will be immediately filling deficient positions from '09 with rookies, and usually, anything is an upgrade when you are starting a rookie.

Chart Key =

Ranking:  1=easiest  32=toughest

QB's, WR's, and TE's

(INDY) Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, and Dallas Clark have the EASIEST passing schedule in 2010

(BALT) Joe Flacco, Anquan Boldin, and Todd Heap have the HARDEST passing schedule in 2010

RB's

(SF) Frank Gore has the EASIEST rushing schedule in 2010

(MIA) Ronnie Brown has the HARDEST rushing schedule in 2010

May 1, 2010

Signed DE Trevor Anderson, DB David Caldwell, DB Jordan Hemby, QB Tim Hiller, WR Brandon James, RB Javarris James, DB Brandon King, OT Jeff Linkenbach, DB Donye' McCleskey, DB Mike Newton, G Gregg Peat, PK Brett Swenson, LB Vuna Tuihalamaka, DB Thad Turner, OT Andrew Tyshovnytsky and WR Blair White.

April 27, 2010

Signed OL Andrew Tyshovnytsky.

March 20, 2010

Named Ron Turner wide receivers coach and Ron Prince assistant offensive line coach.

March 11, 2010

Signed G Andy Alleman.

March 9, 2010

Claimed DE J.D. Skolnitsky off waivers from the Washington Redskins.

March 5, 2010

Re-signed LB Gary Brackett. Signed WR Dudley Guice, WR John Matthews, WR Taj Smith, OL Gerald Cadogan, OL Jaimie Thomas, DL John Chick, DL Mitch King, DB Terrail Lambert, RB Devin Moore, LB Brandon Renkart and QB Drew Willy.