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Indianapolis Colts vs Detroit Lions: What to Watch For

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The Indianapolis Colts face the Detroit Lions in the 2016 regular season opener. The Colts struggled through an injury plagued 2015 while the Lions were never able to crawl out of an 0-5 start to the season.

The 2016 season is finally upon us and the Colts open the year by hosting the Lions. Indy finished 8-8 last season, with approximately all of the injuries. The Lions were 7-9 and saw yet another dominant superstar get tired of perpetual failure and retire early.

The Colts and Lions haven’t faced each other since 2012, when Andrew Luck was a rookie. That game required a fourth quarter rally as Luck found Vick Ballard as time expired for the game winning touchdown. Bruce Arians was the coach then as Chuck Pagano was finishing up his battle with cancer. This was a classic slow start game for Indy, but also showcased Luck’s brilliance and ability to bounce back.

But four years means these team’s are completely different. Luckily for the Colts they won’t have to worry about Calvin Johnson doing his Megatron thing (13 for 171 yards and a TD in 2012), but the secondary is a mess for the Colts and Matthew Stafford might be able to put the ball wherever he wants Sunday.

Here’s what fans should be watching for the Colts in the 2016 matchup:

The Colts should win this game, but it could easily be a high scoring affair. Or not. This is one of those games where it is really tough to get a feel for how it will play out (fairly common for season openers). How will the Colts line actually look? Will Stafford be able to compete without his safety blanket? This is a toss up but with homefield advantage, I’ll take the Colts.

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