Fresh off bye weeks, the Indianapolis Colts and Atlanta Falcons face off on Sunday afternoon in a game that could go a long way toward shaping the playoff races in both conferences.
Colts vs. Falcons 2015 live stream: Start time, TV schedule and how to watch online
The Colts’ postseason hopes are in the hands of 40-year-old Matt Hasselbeck for the foreseeable future.
The Colts engineered an impressive win over the Denver Broncos before their bye and are now tied with the Houston Texans atop the AFC South, but the victory came with a significant cost. A few days later it was revealed that quarterback Andrew Luck suffered a lacerated kidney and abdominal tear in the game, and he is expected to be sidelined for the next month.
Matt Hasselbeck, who led the Colts to two wins earlier this season in place of an injured Luck, is now tasked with keeping Indy atop the division and in playoff contention for the foreseeable future. The 40-year-old has proven to be a capable backup this season. He's completed 63.2 percent of his passes for 495 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. The most important number might be that last one: zero turnovers. If Hasselbeck can continue to play mistake-free football and direct the offense efficiently, the Colts have a good chance of staying afloat without Luck.
The Colts also have the good fortune of playing in the terrible AFC South, where no team has a winning record and seven wins could get you a home playoff game in January. With a 3-0 record in the division and the second-easiest remaining schedule in the NFL (per Football Outsiders), the Colts are still the favorite to take home the AFC South crown.
No team in the NFL needed a bye and a week to reboot more than Atlanta, which is in a tailspin after its promising 5-0 start. The Falcons have lost two games in a row and three of their last four, all to teams below .500. They are 6-3 and currently hold the NFC’s sixth seed, but the wild card race is far from over. There are a whopping six teams with 4-5 records chasing them in the standings.
The Falcons need to regroup and fix their broken offense if they’re going to remain in the playoff hunt. They are averaging 16.8 points over their last four games and have nine giveaways in that span. During its season-opening five-game win streak, Atlanta put up 32.4 points per game and turned the ball over just five times.
The Falcons have been able to move the ball downfield effectively during this recent losing stretch, averaging nearly 400 yards of total offense, but have really struggled to convert those yards into points. In their first five games, they scored touchdowns on 74 percent of their trips into the red zone; in their last four games, that rate has fallen to just 43 percent.
If the Falcons can’t get their offensive mojo back on Sunday against the Colts’ 22nd-ranked scoring defense and 26th-ranked red zone defense, they could be in real trouble trying to make a playoff push down the stretch.
How to Watch
When: 1 p.m. ET
Where: Georgia Dome, Atlanta
TV: CBS
Commentators: Greg Gumbel, Trent Green, Jamie Erdahl
Online: NFL Game Pass
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