We're back with another edition of The Colts Show Mailbag, where I'll answer listener, viewer and reader questions here on Colts.com every week.
You can submit your questions to me a few ways: At Colts.com/Mailbag, on social media (like X and Instagram) and in the YouTube comments for the podcast. Be sure to get your questions in, since I'll get to one on next Tuesday's podcast edition of The Colts Show.
For this week's podcast question, I answered one from Matt Stuthers about the Colts' offense keeping up their pace against a tough slate of defenses in the second half of the season. The podcast this week also features a fun chat I had with center Tanor Bortolini, who's playing at an extremely high level in his first year as a starter. You can get the episode wherever you get your podcasts, including on:
Also, a quick programming note – beginning this week, The Colts Show will hit your feeds on Tuesdays, with The Jack Doyle Podcast moving to Thursdays as part of our Indianapolis Colts Podcasts lineup.
Let's dive into the rest of this week's batch of questions:
Charlie Molina (Tyler, Texas): Do you think Colts have a possibility to maybe get far in the playoffs and maybe win the Super Bowl?
JJ Stankevitz: We'll be at the exact halfway point of the 2025 season at halftime of Sunday's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, so now's a good time to sort of come up for air and check in on the Colts' playoff odds, since Charlie asked here.
By DVOA, the 7-1 Colts currently have a 98.2 percent chance to make the playoffs, which is higher than any other team in the NFL entering Week 9. The top five playoff odds:
- Colts (98.2%)
- Detroit Lions (95.5%)
- Green Bay Packers (93.1%)
- Buffalo Bills (91.3%)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (91.1%)
Charlie's question, though, was more about the Colts' odds to go far in the playoffs – not merely make them. DVOA also has odds to receive the AFC No. 1 seed and a first-round bye:
- Colts (51%)
- Buffalo Bills (16.6%)
- Kansas City Chiefs (14.6%)
- Denver Broncos (6.3%)
- New England Patriots (6%)
- Jacksonville Jaguars (2%)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (1.3%)
- Los Angeles Chargers (1.3%)
- <1%: Houston Texans, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals
- 0%: Miami Dolphins, New York Jets, Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns, Las Vegas Raiders
From here, DVOA gives the Colts a 56.9 percent chance to make the AFC Championship game. The ranking of odds to win the AFC:
- Colts (35.4%)
- Chiefs (23.3%)
- Bills (17.1%)
- Broncos (7.3%)
- Ravens (4.5%)
- Patriots (4.1%)
- Chargers (2%)
- Jaguars (1.6%)
- Texans (1.5%)
- Bengals (0.7%)
And, finally, DVOA's Super Bowl winner odds halfway through the season:
- Lions (19.1%)
- Colts (19%)
- Chiefs (13.3%)
- Rams (9.3%)
- Bills (8.4%)
- Seahawks (7.6%)
- Packers (6.3%)
- Eagles (5%)
- Broncos (2.9%)
- Ravens (2%)
A couple things here. First: These numbers can and will change between now and January. The Colts are as high as they are on these lists because they're No. 1 in DVOA through eight weeks. That's a good sign for the sustainability of this team, but does not mean the Colts will absolutely continue their remarkable success this season – that'll take plenty of hard work and a continued commitment to the week-to-week process that's brought the Colts to a 7-1 record.
But, to answer Charlie's question, yes – the Colts have positioned themselves awfully well through eight games to have a shot at making a deep playoff run. They still have to get there, and that starts by winning the AFC South for the first time since 2014. You can't take success for granted in the NFL, and that's the mentality the Colts possess collectively as the second half of the season gets underway.
Keaan Oldroyd (Woodstock, Ga.): What can we do to keep our offense rolling and more specifically heading into Week 9 to take Pittsburgh on the road? Will be tough.
JJ Stankevitz: Acrisure Stadium will be the toughest environment the Colts will have played in this season, with all due respect to SoFi Stadium and Nissan Stadium. The terrible towels, Renegade, a longstanding winning tradition – these are all things that make Pittsburgh one of the NFL's toughest venues in which to play on the road.
A few things here, removing the atmosphere from the question. The Steelers are 4-3 and have a net-zero point differential this year, having scored 175 points and allowed 175 points. Broadly looking at stuff here, Pittsburgh is 13th in EPA per play on offense (+.012) and is tied for 11th in points per game (25.0), with Aaron Rodgers owning a 104.4 passer rating with 16 touchdowns. Defensively, the Steelers are 22nd in EPA per play (+.024) and 22nd in points allowed per game (25.0); Pittsburgh is allowing a league-high 273 passing yards per game.
Whatever the numbers say about the Pittsburgh defense, though, that's a group still led by Mike Tomlin and still possessing future Hall of Famers T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward up front. The Colts, certainly, will need to bring their best on Sunday.
Robert Mills (Bremen, Ind.): With a trade deadline approaching, do you think the Colts might make some trades for players or maybe trades for draft picks?
Understandably, plenty of questions this week were about the upcoming trade deadline (4 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Nov. 4). I wrote a little about it last week, specifically with how it's not always easy to find a trade partner at this time of year.
But one other thing for general manager Chris Ballard to consider: Dealing away draft picks, especially for rental players who will become free agents after this season, does carry some risk. The Colts have several players whose contracts are up after this year: Daniel Jones, Alec Pierce, Braden Smith, Samson Ebukam, Kwity Paye, Tyquan Lewis and Nick Cross are among them. Trading away draft capital does diminish a team's ability to replenish its roster. That doesn't mean it'd be the wrong move to go get a player for the stretch run, if one is available for the right price, but it is just something to keep in mind here.
