As if the 45-7 final score wasn't evidence enough - and despite the question of football inflation levels - the Indianapolis Colts, while talented, capable and resilient enough to make it all the way to the AFC Championship Game this postseason, are not yet ready to compete with the likes of the New England Patriots and the rest of the AFC elite and are sorely in need of an overall roster upgrade.
Yes, they have a quarterback who is already one of the top five best signal callers in the league in only his third season.
Yes, they have one heck of a head coach more than capable of leading a team to the Super Bowl.
And yes, they have a number of talented pieces elsewhere on the roster, namely receiver T.Y. Hilton, tight ends Dwayne Allen and Coby Fleener and cornerback Vontae Davis.
But some poor draft day decisions and ill-fated trades combined with a defensive unit with a glaring lack of young talent have left the Colts a far-cry from being capable of actually hanging with the best teams in the AFC, playoff victories over a toothless Bengals team and a broken, disinterested Broncos franchise notwithstanding.
The Bills, already one of the NFL's strongest teams defensively, will benefit from the Sexy Rexy bump. Even if they don't improve their quarterback position in the offseason - which will be hard to do considering what they're currently sporting - they'll improve simply by virtue of Ryan and Dennis Thurman's defensive schemes and Greg Roman's commitment to the power running game.
The Broncos will be more determined than ever to make postseason noise next year with new coach Gary Kubiak and a none-too-pleased GM in John Elway. The Patriots are and will continue to be...the Patriots. The Chargers and Steelers had down years, but with Philip Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger, respectively, they're always dangerous. The Chiefs and Texans are teams on the rise, and the Ravens and Bengals are perennial contenders.
In short, the Colts were lucky to make it as far as they did this year and it's not likely to happen again next season without some serious lineup upgrades.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Colts are a five to seven win team without Luck. He was a big problem against the Patriots, but in the season's most imporant moment, he can't do it all by himself.
The offensive line has a number of young prospects yet to become dependable NFL commodities, the trade for Trent Richardson looks worse by the day and wide receiver Reggie Wayne has aged seemingly overnight.
The running back position and Richardson, specifically, must be addressed.
For the defense, Bjoern Werner hasn't developed with the rapidity that the team hoped to see from a slightly older prospect - he's already 24 in only his second NFL season - and beyond Davis, the unit is made up mostly of retreads like D'Qwell Jackson and LaRon Landry and few players with bright NFL futures.
The unit actually posted respectable numbers against both the pass - 12th - and the run - 18th - but that speaks more to Greg Manusky and Pagano's ability to get everything they can out of a limited group of players than it does to the overall talent level of the group.
And as a number of their most depended on pieces are older, it's not a unit that's on the rise, but will instead decline as the years pass.
If the Colts and Pagano are to take another step forward next season, it'll need to start with GM Ryan Grigson having one heck of an offseason.
