Colts Open Challenging Schedule on Road at Houston, Make Five Prime-Time Appearances, Meet Two Usual Non-Divisional Suspects, Finish Season on Road at Jacksonville
Heading into a tenth season in the AFC South, the Indianapolis Colts are used to seeing the Tennessee Titans, Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans – all talented and tough divisional foes. [ View the FULL SCHEDULE ]
This year, the Colts start with divisional action early, play two AFC South encounters near the mid-point of the season, then finish in a flurry with three consecutive such battles to conclude the season. Indianapolis christens the season on September 11 at Houston, the second straight year the Colts start a regular season by facing the Texans in Reliant Stadium. The Colts return to divisional action on October 30 at Tennessee, and they host Jacksonville on November 13. The last three weeks of the season find Indianapolis in divisional combat. The final two home games at Lucas Oil Stadium are against Tennessee on December 18 and Houston on December 22. Indianapolis travels to Jacksonville for a January 1 game to close the regular season. This marks the second straight year all NFL teams play divisional games in Week 17.
The Colts remain a viewing staple with five prime-time games in the 2011 regular season. The first will be a home game against AFC Champion Pittsburgh on September 25 at 8:20 p.m. This is the first of three Colts games on NBC. Following the Pittsburgh game, Indianapolis travels to Tampa Bay for a Monday, October 3 game with the Buccaneers. The game will air on ESPN. This will be the club's first appearance at Tampa Bay since earning a dramatic 38-35 overtime victory over the Buccaneers in 2003. The two remaining games for the Colts on NBC will be at New Orleans on October 23 and at New England on December 4. The Colts and Saints will be meeting for the first time since Super Bowl XLIV. The final prime-time outing is Thursday, December 22 against Houston on the NFL Network. This marks the fourth consecutive year the Colts have played an AFC South game in December on the NFL Network. The Colts won in Jacksonville the first two times (31-24, 2008; 35-31, 2009), then topped Tennessee, 30-28, last year. In addition to meeting in the opener in consecutive seasons, this will be the second straight year a national audience will witness this game again. The Colts and Texans met on ESPN in 2010.
Indianapolis has had at least five regular season prime-time games every year since 2007, and it has posted solid results. Indianapolis has earned prime-time records of 4-2 (2007), 3-2 (2008), 5-0 (2009) and 4-1 (2010) during the last four regular seasons. Indianapolis has not failed to appear fewer than three times in prime-time during the last 11 regular seasons (6, 2007; 5, 2008-10; 4, 2001, 2005, 2006; 3, 2000, 2002-04).
The club's non-division opponents include the AFC North (Cleveland and Pittsburgh at home; Baltimore and Cincinnati away) and the NFC South (Atlanta and Carolina at home; New Orleans and Tampa Bay away), and Indianapolis meets two AFC divisional winners (Kansas City at home; New England away).
Prior to closing the season with AFC South contests, the Colts will renew two of the NFL's most frequent recent non-divisional rivalries by traveling to New England on December 4 and to Baltimore on December 11. This marks the seventh consecutive season, and the eighth time in nine seasons, the Colts and New England have met in November, or later. It will be the 12th time the teams have squared off during the regular season or the playoffs since the 2002 NFL Realignment. That is the most number of such non-divisional battles in the NFL. The Colts and Ravens will be contesting each other for the ninth time during that same span, tying the number of times the Colts and Denver have met, and only one game behind the second-most frequent non-divisional NFL series meetings since 2002 (10, Arizona-Carolina, counting 2011 game).
Indianapolis faces six opponents who made the playoffs last season (Home: Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Kansas City; Away: Baltimore, New Orleans, New England). Tampa Bay (10-6 in 2010) joins those 2010 playoff participants as the seventh team the Colts will face this year that had a winning record last season. Counting Jacksonville's 8-8 mark, nine of the Colts' 16 2011 opponents had records of .500 or better last year.
This marks the club's 28th season in Indianapolis. The Colts have opened at home 15 times. The longest streak of seasons with openers at home was six (1991-96), while the longest streak of opening seasons on the road was seven (2000-06). Indianapolis will observe its open week on November 20.
MOST REGULAR-SEASON/PLAYOFF GAMES FOR NON-DIVISION OPPONENTS SINCE 2002 SEASON (2011 GAMES NOT INCLUDED)
Indianapolis Colts-New England Patriots 11Arizona Cardinals-Carolina Panthers 9
Indianapolis Colts-Denver Broncos 9 Indianapolis Colts-Baltimore Ravens 8Tampa Bay Buccaneers-Washington Redskins 8
Atlanta Falcons-Philadelphia Eagles 8
Minnesota Vikings-New York Giants 8
Green Bay Packers-Philadelphia Eagles 8
In addition to the regular season schedule being announced, the pre-season schedule is complete. Indianapolis hosts Super Bowl XLV champion Green Bay on Friday, August 26 at 8:00 p.m. The game will be telecast nationally by CBS. The Colts' remaining three games will air on WNDY-TV. Indianapolis has road dates at St. Louis on Saturday, August 13 at 8:00 p.m. and closes the pre-season schedule at Cincinnati on Thursday, September 1. Kickoff for the Colts-Bengals game is 7:00 p.m. Indianapolis hosts Washington on Friday, August 19 at 7:00 p.m.
