The Ravens (3-1) hit the road for their toughest stretch of the season, as four of their next five games are away from Charm City. First stop Indianapolis, Indiana as they match-up against the high flying Colts (2-2).
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Here’s what you should know.
- Andrew Luck threw four touchdown passes Sunday and Reggie Wayne scored for the first time this season as the Colts routed division rival Tennessee 41-17 in Week four. Luck was 29 of 41 for a season-best 393 yards. Wayne had seven catches for a season-best 119 yards and scored on a spectacular 28-yard catch.Tennessee (1-3) has lost three straight since an impressive season-opening win over Kansas City, and this one wasn’t even close.Indy led 14-0 after one and made it 20-3 with two Adam Vinatieri field goals. Tennessee closed to 20-10 at halftime, but Luck’s two third-quarter TD passes made it 34-10 and the Titans never challenged again
- Colts quarterback Andrew Luck is having a fantastic start to the season. He’s leading the league in touchdowns (13) and has been on fire as of late. He’s 60-of-80 for 763 yards, eight touchdowns, one interception and only two sacks in the past two games. He’s completed passes to nine different players in each of those games. So right now he’s in the zone and playing at a very high level that few can match at this point.
- This is one of the best offenses in the league. The Colts are averaging 42.5 points in the past two games and they’ve had at least 500 yards of total offense in each of those games. Those are some staggering stats but let’s not forget they did that against the Jaguars and Titans. Even still they are ranked 1st in the league in passing (326 yds.) and 18th in rushing (118 yds.).
- Trent Richardson and Ahmad Bradshaw provide a stark contrast in the run game. Richardson is only averaging 3.3 on the ground while Bradshaw has been more productive as the change of pace back (5.4 per) in his place. Bradshaw also has value on passing downs as he’s caught four touchdowns from Luck so far as well.
- Reggie Wayne continues to produce, though clearly not the burner he was in the past he remains a key part of the Indy air attack, especially on third down where he remains Luck’s security blanket. On Sunday, he surpassed Isaac Bruce for seventh place on the NFL’s all-time receptions list (1,029) and Henry Ellard for 10th on the most receiving yards list (13,873). This season he leads the team in receptions (23) and yards (307) a year removed from ACL surgery.
- Inside linebacker D’Qwell Jackson, formerly of the Cleveland Browns has had quite an impact on the Colts this season. He leads the team with 32 total tackles and has two sacks and one forced fumble. Last Sunday he was credited with a team-high 10 tackles, eight of them solos.
- The Colts defense is middle of the pack ranked 19th giving up 356 yds. of offense per game and average surrendering almost 24 points a contest to the opponent.
2014 OVERALL NFL RANKINGS
PASSING YDS –326.0 (1st Overall)
RUSHING YDS–118.0 (18th Overall)
OPP PASSING YDS– 251.3 (21st Overall)
OPP RUSHING YDS–104.8 (12th Overall)
Matt Jergensen
Matt has lived in Maryland his entire life and is a graduate of Calvert Hall and Towson University. has always been an avid Baltimore sports fan. Since 2007, he has been writing and talking about Baltimore sports, especially the Ravens. His work has appeared on Ravens Gab, Russell Street Report, and he currently co-hosts a podcast “The Blitz- A Ravens podcast” with Brent Harris.