Colts cover corner Vontae Davis has a significant ankle injury; he's going to miss the first month of the season, at a minimum. It's a blow to the Indianapolis defense, certainly, as Davis has shown shutdown ability at times. At times.
I remembered him shutting down Sammy Watkins in Week 1 of last season, and thought I'd run a check on how other No. 1 wideouts had fared against the Colts last year. I was a little surprised to find that a decent percentage of them had done quite well.
Davis wasn't always matched up with those players, and there were probably games he missed part of or wasn't 100 percent for. But opposing No. 1 wideouts had respectable numbers against the Colts last year. Six of them caught touchdowns, and five went over 100 yards. Half managed at least 80 yards.
Take it for what it's worth. A couple of guys (Watkins and Allen Robinson, for example) should be glad not to see Davis on the other side of the field, should he miss their matchup. But most opposing No. 1s did just fine; no reason to sit anyone down even if Davis is available.
| NO. 1 WIDE RECEIVERS AGAINST COLTS, 2015 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opp | No. 1 Wideout | No | Yards | TD |
| @BUF | Sammy Watkins | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| NYJ | Brandon Marshall | 7 | 101 | 1 |
| @TEN | Dorial Green-Beckham | 2 | 22 | 1 |
| JAC | Allen Robinson | 4 | 80 | 0 |
| @HOU | DeAndre Hopkins | 11 | 169 | 0 |
| NE | Julian Edelman | 6 | 50 | 1 |
| NO | Brandin Cooks | 6 | 81 | 0 |
| @CAR | Ted Ginn Jr. | 2 | 60 | 0 |
| DEN | Demaryius Thomas | 5 | 50 | 0 |
| @ATL | Julio Jones | 9 | 160 | 0 |
| TB | Mike Evans | 5 | 64 | 0 |
| @PIT | Antonio Brown | 8 | 118 | 2 |
| @JAC | Allen Robinson | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| HOU | DeAndre Hopkins | 8 | 94 | 0 |
| @MIA | Jarvis Landry | 7 | 111 | 0 |
| TEN | Dorial Green-Beckham | 2 | 21 | 1 |
--Andy Richardson