Bold Predictions: Colts vs Eagles week three The Colts have what is probabl

y the toughest game on their schedule coming this weekend--a road game against the defending Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles are battered with injury Authentic J'Marcus Webb Jersey , missing key players all across their offense. Their star quarterback will make his debut, but it is fair to expect some rust from him. Regardless, this is not a team that won the Super Bowl by accident. This is a very good football team with the kind of depth that the Colts are absolutely hoping to build in the coming years. The defense from top to bottom is second only to Jacksonville in terms of quality that the Colts will face this season. Colts fans of all people know what a difference having your franchise QB can make, and getting Carson Wentz back is a huge lift to an offense that has struggled through the first two weeks of the season. With all that in mind, here are my bold predictions for what I think will be a very competitive football game Sunday.Darius Leonard gets his first pickGeoff Burke-USA TODAY SportsCarson Wentz is making his return after tearing his ACL and LCL last season. The conditions for that return aren’t ideal for the Eagles. They are thin at their skill positions on offense due to injury, and that means Wentz is going to be throwing to some guys who he might not have a ton of trust with. One guy he has an established rapport with is tight end Zach Ertz. Ertz and Wentz had a really special connection last season, and Ertz worked as a security blanket for Wentz, much like Jack Doyle has done in the past for Andrew Luck. In a game with a lot of uncertainty for Wentz in terms of targets, Ertz will be on his radar. That means that Darius Leonard will have his work cut out for him. The Colts’ rookie got the AFC Defensive Player of the Week award for last week’s performance against the Redskins, and the Colts will need another big performance from him this week and I think they’ll get it. The combination of a rusty Carson Wentz and some great playmaking on the part of Leonard gets him his first interception in the NFL.Jordan Wilkins has his best gameGeoff Burke-USA TODAY SportsNo one has run the ball on the Eagles. They have the top run defense through two weeks in terms of yards allowed with an average of 58.5 per game. I think the Colts will break that trend. The offensive line has stood up against some pretty good defenses, and while they haven’t exactly dominated on the ground, Jordan Wilkins averaged more than 6 yards per carry last Sunday. The Colts fed the ball to Marlon Mack with mixed results against the Redskins, in large part because he didn’t look healthy. With him having missed practice most of the week, I expect that Wilkins and Hines will both see their involvement increase. The Colts have done a lot in terms of pulling Quenton Nelson and running behind him. I expect that to continue and for Wilkins to have a significant impact on this game. His biggest limiting factor last week was that he only got 10 carries. If he can get 20 carries, I think he goes over 100 yards and really helps take pressure off Luck and lets the passing game open up. Andrew Luck looks like an MVPPhoto by Rob Carr/Getty ImagesSo far this season Andrew Luck has looked like a very good quarterback in a well planned and executed offense. It is not so much that he hasn’t been able to carry the team so much as that the offense hasn’t asked him to. This week, I think we start to see him rounding into form and reminding everyone just how good he is. Last week was a rougher outing for Luck but I don’t expect that to carry over. I think this is the week we see Luck hit T.Y. Hilton downfield for a big gain on a play action or double move. We saw that this team can be susceptible to a strong passing game, and given the Colts likelihood of rushing the ball well, I expect the opportunities for some big plays will present themselves. Given the type of offense the Colts play, there have been many who question Luck’s ability to throw the same deep ball he once did. This is the week I think that argument gets put to bed. I think he throws for 350 yards, 3 touchdowns Youth Chester Rogers Jersey , no picks. Colts allow no sacksPhoto by Rob Carr/Getty ImagesThe Colts’ offensive line has been really quite good to this point in the season. They’re missing their best player in the form of Anthony Castonzo, and yet they have stepped up in a way few thought they could, and against some really tough defenses. The Eagles area very good defense, however, they’ve already made some statements that indicate they might be underestimating a line that has been no pushover.Frank Reich knows this defense better than just about anyone in the NFL does. They won’t likely catch the Colts off guard schematically. The Eagles also tend to rush just 4, largely because they can usually get pressure that way without blitzing. The Colts will use this to their advantage, dialing up runs that take advantage of aggressive line play, hitting the team over the middle so that Luck gets the ball out quickly, and generally making it tough for the line to be effective. This one might be my boldest prediction yet, but to say it is a stretch that the line could do really well is to ignore a lot of solid play by them through this point in the season. So what are your bold predictions?Colts vs Redskins: Matchups to watch in week two The Colts missed an opportunity to start out their season with a win, but this week they’ll head on the road in hopes of preventing another 0-2 start, which has been the case for them since 2014. They’ll head to Landover, MD to face the Redskins, who are returning home from a dominant road win against the Arizona Cardinals. The Redskins are a formidable opponent, to be sure, and the Colts will need to be ready to go for them. A quick look at the stat line tells a little, but the full picture is, as always in the film. I had a look at the Redskins in their week one matchup, so with that knowledge in hand, let’s take a look at some key matchups to watch in the Colts’ week two meeting with the Redskins.Colts’ Front Seven vs Chris ThompsonMark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY SportsOne of the most noticeable and impressive parts of the Redskins game was running back Chris Thompson. Thompson is just plain explosive as a runner http://www.coltsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-denico-autry-jersey , and even more so as a receiving back. He averaged 13 yards per carry and his longest run was 16 yards, so this was not an illusion created by a crazy 90-yard broken play. He was really that good.Don’t get me wrong, Adrian Peterson was good as well, and had 96 yards on 26 touches, but he isn’t the back that I think will trouble the Colts. Thompson’s speed and vision to the outside allowed him to amass big yards in the first half as a receiving back and he had a couple big runs in the 2nd half as well to help close out the game. The Colts’ defense will need to be very disciplined and work hard to keep contain, because Thompson is an incredible talent and will absolutely eat this defense up if they don’t keep the running game locked down. When he is in the game, they’ll have to be even more conscious of this, because his ability to break to the outside is very dangerous.Colts’ Offensive Line vs Redskins Pass RushFirst let’s point out the obvious: Andrew Luck is not Sam Bradford. Bradford made bad throws, got squirrely in the pocket, and just wasn’t very good on Sunday. This was in large part due to pretty consistent pressure from the Redskins front seven. If Anthony Castonzo is in the game on Sunday, this offensive line is significantly better than the Cardinals’ line, which couldn’t offer much in the way or pass or run blocking. That’s a big “if” too, because Castonzo was missing today from practice when it began. It could be that he is resting today. It could be that he was seeing training staff and would join the team later. Or it could be gamesmanship on the part of the coaching staff. But if it isn’t those things and Castonzo will miss more time, this line is going to struggle. They played a very admirable game on Sunday, but lost J’Marcus Webb to a hamstring injury while he tried to chase down Fejedelem on the fumble recovery that ended the Colts’ chances. They’ll need a similar performance against a very good defensive front of the Redskins to be successful on Sunday. Frank Reich vs Greg ManuskyMark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY SportsIt was notable while watching the Redskins vs Cardinals that there were very few times when the Cardinals had an open receiver in space. Credit should go to the Redskins for swarming to the ball and playing in tight coverage, but it also felt like a very familiar watch from an offensive playcalling perspective. I felt like I was once again watching Chuck Pagano’s uninspired Colts while the Cardinals forced the ball to David Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald, who were both smothered and largely unable to do anything. The problem for the Redskins is that Frank Reich designed plays in week one that got players open all over the place. Luck hit 9 different targets on Sunday, and that was by design. The Colts will get players open, and Luck is smart enough and accurate enough to get them the ball. The Colts were 11 of 17 on third down conversions. Compare that with the Cardinals who were just 1-8 against the Redskins. Again, credit the Redskins defense for a great effort Skai Moore Jersey , but don’t think for a second that the Colts will provide that same kind of opportunity. The Redskins defense stayed fresh because they weren’t on the field very long. The faced nearly constant 3-and-outs from the Cardinals’ offense. They were good, but the Cardinals’ offense was weak, one dimensional, and unimpressive. Frank Reich knows this Redskins team well, and he will have prepared this team very well offensively for what they will face from the Redskins’ defense. He will be drawing up plays to get this team moving the ball well and keep the ball in the hands of Andrew Luck rather than Adrian Peterson and Chris Thompson. Greg Manusky will dial up blitzes, and his personnel with the team is undoubtedly much better than anything he was ever given as a part of the Colts coaching staff. However, the Colts got relatively poor play from both Jack Doyle and T.Y. Hilton in week one. As those are their two best players, I wouldn’t count on a repeat performance, and a few plays by either of those guys would have been a win last Sunday. T.Y. Hilton vs Josh NormanPhoto by Andy Lyons/Getty ImagesAs I said before the season, the Colts have typically gone as T.Y. Hilton goes. When he has big games, this team wins. It is important that they don’t revert entirely to that formula, because it can be too easy to game plan for. Frank Reich moved the ball around amongst various players on Sunday and got them all involved in the game, which is a very valuable way to combat defenses. Having said all that, Hilton is still their most dangerous and talented weapon as a pass catcher, and they need that to be obvious on Sunday if they want to get a win. Josh Norman is a very good cornerback, and I don’t anticipate that the Colts will throw at him often, but Hilton needs to be able to get some wins in that matchup, and he needs to get them early. This is a team that can grind out a game on the ground against a young Colts team, and Hilton can make that really difficult if he shows up ready to go.