The following is an excerpt from Warren Sharp's 2025 Football Preview book. In addition to Warren's deep, detailed write-up on all 32 NFL teams, each chapter features page after page of full-color charts, stats, and heatmaps as well as penalty analysis from Joe Gibbs. Click here for a full FREE chapter from the 2025 Football Preview.
Penalties are an under-discussed aspect of NFL success and failure. Average teams can become playoff contenders with good discipline, and good teams can become great simply by winning the penalty battle.
Let's look at how the Indianapolis Colts performed from a penalty perspective in 2024 and where they can improve in 2025.
How Did Penalties Impact the Indianapolis Colts?
The Good
- The Colts ended the 2024 season ranking 30th in penalties per game average.
- Only 17.5% of the Colts' penalties occurred on all important third down plays, below the league average of 21.5% on third downs.
- The Colts averaged 9.4 yards per beneficial penalty in 2024. The NFL average is 8.1 yards in this category.
- The Colts offense wasn't prolific at benefiting from automatic first downs via penalties. Despite the lower overall volume, they did manage to gain 15.9 yards per infraction, significantly higher than the league average of 11.1 yards in this category.
- In home games, the Colts defense (and crowd) ranked as a top-five unit at generating false starts on opposing offenses.
The Bad
- The Colts offense was ineffective at generating automatic first downs via penalty. Compounding that problem was their inability to generate these penalties on third downs (20%). The NFL average is 31.8% in this category.
- Second half penalties accounted for 63% of Colts’ infractions, far higher than the NFL average of 53% in this category.
Grade: B-
The Colts have a well rounded roster and one of the league's best offensive minds as their head coach, but once again, quarterback is where the uncertainty lies heading into the season.
Anthony Richardson and Daniel Jones will compete for the starting job. Neither option inspires a ton of confidence.
That said, Jones does have a road playoff win on his resume, and Shane Steichen will get maximum production out of whoever gets the starting job.
The Colts must get off to a fast start if they intend to be a playoff team, with four of their first six games at Lucas Oil Stadium.
If Indianapolis stumbles out of the gates, its season could be over by November.
What will ultimately determine the ceiling for this Colts team is their quarterback play, and that position remains a major question mark heading into 2025.
This analysis continues in the 2025 Football Preview
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