There’s no exact science to winning in the NFL playoffs, but Colts owner Jim Irsay thinks it’s become clear how a team can get it done.
Irsay tweeted that to win in the playoffs, a team needs a quarterback and an offense that can score 30-plus points per game in regulation and a defense that can hold an opponent below 30 points per game.
You can see,clear as day,in The Final 8 NFL Team Playoffs…you need a QB and Offense,who can score 30 or more in Regulation…and a Defense that can hold an opponent under 30!🏈
— Jim Irsay (@JimIrsay) January 25, 2022
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His Colts did not make the playoffs after losing in the regular season’s final game to the Jaguars 26-11, falling out of the wild-card picture as both the Steelers and the Raiders surged past Indianapolis.
The comments made by Irsay come after a season in which Indianapolis deployed Carson Wentz as the team’s starting quarterback. Wentz had helped lead the Eagles in the regular season of a Super Bowl-winning campaign, but struggled in his final season with Philadelphia. In his first year in Indianapolis, he completed 62.4 percent of his passes for 3,563 yards with 27 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
The Colts had seven games in which they scored at least 30 points, tied for the seventh-most in the NFL, according to Stathead, and they had 14 games in which they held the opposition to 30 points or fewer, tied for sixth in the league.
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Here’s how the final eight teams in the playoff fared during the regular season, and where the teams ranked overall in the NFL, according to Stathead. QBR is total team QBR over the course of the season.
| Team | 30-plus Points Scored | Less than 30 Points Allowed | QBR |
| 49ers | 6 (t-13th) | 15 (t-2nd) | 99.2 (9th) |
| Bengals | 7 (t-7th) | 13 (t-14th) | 106.9 (2nd) |
| Bills | 9 (t-2nd) | 14 (t-6th) | 91.3 (16th) |
| Buccaneers | 10 (1st) | 14 (t-6th) | 101.6 (t-5th) |
| Chiefs | 9 (t-2nd) | 14 (t-6th) | 98.1 (10th) |
| Packers | 8 (t-5th) | 14 (t-6th) | 107.4 (1st) |
| Rams | 7 (t-7th) | 14 (t-6th) | 101.6 (t-5th) |
| Titans | 5 (t-16th) | 13 (t-14th) | 90.0 (17th) |
For starters, the AFC South-winning Titans certainly didn’t match the criteria all that well, ranking last in each category among the final eight despite entering the playoffs with the No. 1 seed. The best fits for what Irsay laid out were the Bills, Buccaneers, Chiefs and Packers, three of whom were eliminated in the divisional round.
The last time the Colts won the Super Bowl, which came following the 2006 season, they had future Hall of Famer Peyton Manning under center. Manning led them to the fourth-most games with at least 30-points scored during the regular season (six) while the defense was tied for seventh with 14 games with fewer than 30 points allowed.
Indianapolis certainly didn’t meet expectations in 2021, but it could potentially look to make another splash in the offseason. The Colts have been rumored as a possible destination for Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, should he decide to leave Green Bay.
If Rodgers found himself in Indianapolis, the Colts might be in a better position to truly meet Irsay’s latest formula and make that final push to reach the postseason.