Peyton Manning might be riding an incredible hot streak in Denver, but it’s not as if his old team is struggling with his successor.
The Colts enter Sunday’s test with the Seahawks at Lucas Oil Stadium at 3-1 this season and 14-6 in the regular season overall since taking Andrew Luck No. 1 in last year’s NFL Draft.
Though Luck doesn’t have Manning’s ridiculous passing numbers (no other quarterback in the NFL does), the former Stanford star is the main reason Indianapolis is just one game back of the Broncos in the overall AFC race and looks like a team with staying power.
Manning and Luck will be on the same field together in Indianapolis later this month for one of the most anticipated matchups of the season, but Sunday’s showdown with the powerful Seahawks has its share of intrigue, too.
Much of that intrigue centers on how Luck will hold up against Seattle’s ferocious, opportunistic defense, which is a big reason why the Seahawks lead the NFC with a plus-seven turnover margin and rank second in the league with 13 takeaways.
Luck is poised and not easily rattled, and the Colts have done a decent job of keeping him off the ground. He has been sacked just 10 times in the first four games combined after getting sacked a whopping 41 times in 16 starts as a rookie last year.
The ability to protect Luck — not to mention the development of a second reliable receiver in T.Y. Hilton — goes a long way toward explaining why Luck has noticeably improved his completion percentage, which was the one area he left himself open to criticism for last year.
Luck is connecting on 64 percent of his passes this season, in contrast to the lowly 54.1 percent in 2012. He also is being careful with the football, throwing just two interceptions and losing just one fumble this year after losing a whopping 10 fumbles as a rookie.
Luck’s sure-handedness is reassuring to the Colts in this matchup, considering he will be throwing against a stacked Seattle secondary led by Richard Sherman.
The cocky Pro Bowl cornerback paved the way for the Seahawks’ 23-20 comeback win in Houston in overtime last week with a late interception off Matt Schaub that he returned 58 yards for a TD.
It was the Seahawks’ second road win of the young season, which already marks a turnaround in an area — winning away from the deafening roar of CenturyLink Field — that has long been a trouble spot.
Seattle is 4-0 for the first time in franchise history and considered one of the NFC’s elite not just because of its defense, though. Like the Colts, the Seahawks also have a second-year star in the making under center in Russell Wilson.
But the big focus will be on how Luck fares against the Seattle defense, although don’t be surprised if the Colts take much of the load out of his hands. The reason: Indianapolis has a dangerous running game, and run defense has been the Seahawks’ lone problem area this season.
Ahmad Bradshaw’s absence due to a neck injury, which will sideline the former Giant for at least two weeks, complicates that potential strategy, but the Colts might decide that this is the perfect opportunity to showcase their prized new addition in Trent Richardson against a Seattle defense that is 18th in the league against the run.
The Seahawks have won nine regular-season games in a row, but they’re not road warriors just yet.
PICK: Colts, 21-20.