The Indianapolis Colts will reportedly be without star quarterback Andrew Luck for at least a month, after he was diagnosed with abdominal injuries.
While Luck has struggled more this season than at any point in his career, few would argue with the fact that he still shoulders as much responsibility for his team's results as any player in the league, for better or worse.
Now, the Colts will move forward with Matt Hasselbeck under center, as they did earlier in the season when Luck was out of action for two games with a shoulder injury.
Those two games - Colts victories - provided a blueprint for surviving without Luck.
It's entirely possible the AFC South champion could win only seven games, meaning the Colts need to only find two or three wins in Luck's absence, presuming he returns in Week 16 or 17.
Here's how they can do it:
Continue to get the ball out of Hasselbeck's hand quickly
Luck has been criticized for his indecisiveness in the pocket, and for holding onto the ball too long. This is backed up by the stats, where Luck has gotten rid of the ball in 2.5 seconds or less on only 42.3 percent of his dropbacks, per Pro Football Focus. Hasselbeck, in contrast, has hit that benchmark on 74.7 percent of his dropbacks.
The Colts clearly understand that Hasselbeck doesn't have the arm, or the ability to take hits, at this stage of his career.
The veteran has had nearly four years in the Colts' system, he can play efficiently, and can take advantage of the short passing game, putting the ball in the hands of the Colts' playmakers.
The big plays that Luck is known for can't be relied upon, so the Colts need to move towards more methodical, efficiency-based drives to win games.
Be aggressive
17-0. 10-0. 20-0.
Those were the scores at halftime of three of the Colts' losses this season.
It's become an unfortunate staple of the Chuck Pagano-era Colts, the team starts off slow, falls behind big, and then attempts a comeback late in the game.
That just won't fly with Hasselbeck at quarterback. The Colts need to be aggressive, especially early on in games, to make sure they aren't forced away from their gameplan.
The Colts can't settle for field goals early, they can't play scared. They'll undoubtedly need to take some risks to survive the Luck-less stretch. His job is on the line, so expect Pagano to be willing to take chances.
And no, I'm not talking about this type of aggressive, Chuck.
No more pitch count for Gore
The rationale behind Frank Gore's pitch count is that they want him healthy, and with enough left in the tank for the playoffs.
However, a playoff spot is in serious jeopardy now, and the Colts look like a much better team when Gore is given consistent carries throughout a game.
The Colts seemed to have already received the message prior to Luck's injury, with Gore carrying the ball 22 and 28 times in the past two weeks, after only exceeding 20 carries once before that.
With Ahmad Bradshaw now the backup, the Colts can still give Gore plays off, but they must ride him in order to contend.
In the victory over Denver, the biggest change offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski made was to establish the run, and then open things up with play-action passes. It sounds simple, but often Pep Hamilton failed to do that, and in his eagerness for explosive plays, he tried to make plays downfield off of play action, despite the lack of respect created for the run game.
Establishing the run early will be key for the Colts moving forward.
Win the remaining divisional games
This is obvious, but it's simply the easiest way the Colts retain their AFC South crown, and must be mentioned. Indianapolis is currently 3-0 within the division, with Houston at 2-1, and Jacksonville and Tennessee at 0-2.
The Colts could lose their next three games, at Atlanta, versus Tampa Bay, and at Pittsburgh, and still be in position to win the division if they sweep their remaining divisional games.
While conceding defeat in their other remaining games is illogical, the Colts have to focus on winning those three intradivision battles. Win all three, and that's a 6-0 divisional record that gets them the seven wins that'll likely win the AFC South.
