2007 Previews: Indianapolis Colts

Note: This is a team-by-team look previewing the 2007 season. These are my official thoughts on how I think things will play out.

Last year: 12-4 (Super Bowl champs)

Best addition: Anthony Gonzalez (WR, 1st round draft pick out of Ohio State)

Key personnel losses: Mike Doss (S, Vikings) and Cato June (LB, Buccaneers)

2007 outlook: With the proverbial monkey finally off the backs of Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy, what will the Colts do for an encore? Well, when the only impact pickup in the offseason is another weapon for Manning, Colts fans have to be thinking about a repeat. And they have no reason to think otherwise, at least as far as the offense is concerned.

Defensively however, this will be a brand new team - which may not be a bad thing given the Colts previous shortcomings in this area. Gone are leaders like June and Doss but it was apparent that Bob Sanders was really the glue that held that unit together as they markedly improved when he came back from injury and the Colts always seem to have another LB ready when a top flight one departs. And with Dungy's penchant for building defenses, it seems to not matter who is back there, they will be good enough to keep their offense from being outscored.

Key to success: All eyes will be on 2nd year RB Joseph Addai and how he takes to the role of being the sole back. He was drafted last year to replace the departed Edgerrin James and between him and the recently departed Dominic Rhodes they actually did what James could not and get to a Super Bowl. But now Addai has to go it alone and while it may be unreasonable to expect the Colts to repeat, if they do it will be because Addai was more than adequate at replacing both James and Rhodes.

Against Washington: The Skins probably should have beaten the Colts last year given the position they were in at halftime and the beating they had dished out to Manning but Indy came to life in the second half and beat Washington 36-22. The two teams do not meet this season.

Fantasy sleeper: Ben Utecht. While Dallas Clark gets most of the pass catching responsibilities in this offense, Utecht is actually in the same role Clark was when Marcus Pollard was still in Indy. Utecht has the ability to catch and get open and with defenses focusing more on Clark, he should be able to find ways to contribute in the two-TE sets Indy runs. With TE always being a position of peaks and valleys, Utecht may prove to be better than most of the regular starters in the league.