The Colts will be OK. Unless they're not.

When last we left the Indianapolis Colts, they were getting used up by the Eagles in a preseason game, and everyone was freaking out because the O-line stunk again and Andrew Luck was getting beat up again and the defense was down to the ghost of Dwight Freeney and a handful of magic beans, and, oh, it was gonna be terrible this year, just terrible.

At which point the Blob felt compelled to point out that it almost always looks that way in the preseason, if you're the Colts. And so quit leaning so hard on the panic button.

Well, now the calendar tells me the regular season is about to begin, which means it's time to start seriously thinking about what kind of team the Horsies are going to trot out there. And I have to say, it all depends.

It all depends on whether or not the new offense, which instills a more disciplined and measured passing attack, will enable Andrew Luck to get the ball out his hand quicker and therefore keep him out of the ER.

It all depends on whether or not Luck getting the ball out his hand quicker will help the revamped offensive line keep him out of the ER.

It all depends on whether Robert Mathis, the Colts' only legit pass rusher, can still get to the quarterback at the decrepit age of 35.

It all depends on how quickly all the broken pieces of the Colts' lineup heal -- the team has basically been re-enacting Gettysburg in the preseason -- and how well they heal, and if they'll be any good once they do heal.

It all depends, mainly, if the Colts' schedule is as soft as it looks, or if the allegedly vibrant young Jaguars really are all that vibrant, and if the allegedly ascendant Raiders actually ascend, and if the Broncos really can be just as good with a kid from Northwestern at quarterback instead of Peyton Manning.

If all that happens -- and if 600 more guys go down --, the Colts might be lucky to finish on speaking terms with .500. But if the Jags keep being the Jags and the Titans keep being the Titans and the Lions and Bears are as train wreck-y as everyone says, why, the Horsies might actually make the playoffs.

In other words, 10-6 and another championship of the AFC Gone South is possible and maybe even likely.

Of course, that's if you're a glass-half-full guy. Me, I'm a chronic glass-half-empty guy.

So I think 9-7 sounds more like it. Tops.