The Indianapolis Colts have to step up their wounded line of defensive players if they want to see the playoffs this year, and the team’s recent news concerning injuries of defensive players Gary Brackett and Keyunta Dawson is not what Colts fans want to hear. Indianapolis has been battling injuries throughout the season, and middle linebacker Brackett’s lower leg injury and defensive tackle Dawson’s pulled hamstring both in the second quarter of Sunday’s game against the Browns are adding up to be trouble in Horse country.

Brackett’s projected fibula injury required X-rays this week while Dawson’s hamstring injury was confirmed, and these injuries will likely keep them both out of next week’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals and perhaps even the next games against the Detroit Lions and the Jacksonville Jaguars. With two big holes suddenly gaping in the Colts’ defense, weak-side linebacker Freddy Keiaho will replace Brackett’s position as middle linebacker, while linebacker Tyjuan Hagler will also step up to the plate, and Buster Davis (inactive for the last eight of nine weeks) will get to see playing time, as well. The steady stream of Indianapolis defensive tackles has been coming up dry this year, as the Colts have already lost Quinn Pitcock to retirement and Ed Johnson after legal charges of marijuana possession surfaced. As Keyunta Dawson’s key position will be hard to replace, a team of Raheem Brock, Eric Foster, Antonio Johnson, Darrell Reid and Daniel Muir will fill in for him in his absence. Safety Bob Sanders is also questionable going into these next few crucial games for the Colts, as his chronic sore knee has been acting up lately. Sanders is expected to play in next week’s game, and the defensive weapon will need to pull out a few classic Bob Sanders moments to make up for his defense’s weak spots.

The Colts need to dig deep for wins in the final weeks of the regular season to secure a spot in the playoffs, and with these defensive woes Indianapolis will have to rely once again on Peyton Manning and the team’s unstoppable offense to lead them past The Bengals, Lions, Jaguars and Titans, respectively. The Colts are currently on a five game winning streak, improving their record to 8-4 and leading the way for the first wild-card spot in the AFC playoffs. This season wasn’t looking so peachy for the team at the beginning of the year, however, when the Colts suddenly found themselves with a 3-4 record in the middle of the season. Losses to the Chicago Bears (13-29), Jacksonville Jaguars (21-23), Green Bay Packers (14-34) and Tennessee Titans (21-31) left Indianapolis down but not out, and this resilient team led by head coach Tony Dungy’s “one game at a time” mantra has proven they are not out of contention for the 2009 Super Bowl championship. If you’ve missed seeing the Colts battle this season in their new home the Lucas Oil Stadium, hurry and get Indianapolis Colts tickets from http://www.stubhub.com/indianapolis-colts-tickets before their first season at the stadium is over!

This article is sponsored by StubHub.com and was written by Jenna Jay. StubHub is a leader in the business of selling Indianapolis Colts tickets, sports tickets, concert tickets, theater tickets and special events tickets.

Related Articles