Indianapolis Colts Lose Running Back Vick Ballard for the Season to Freak Injury

The Indianapolis Colts have officially been stung by he injury bug. According to Colts Head Coach Chuck Pagano, running back Vick Ballard tore his ACL in practice Thursday while making a cut. If you are not too familiar with knee injuries, there is no such thing as a good one, but tearing the ACL is the worst.

It's a season ending injury (so yeah, Ballard is done for the year).

@zkeefer/Twitter

Ballard was the team's leading rusher last season with 814 yards and a pair of touchdowns. It was during an overtime game early in the season against the Tennessee Titans that he really grasped the attention of Colts fans everywhere making a diving, Matrix-esque  style move to reach the end zone and seal the win.

As promising as his season was, the team still saw the need to bring in another running back--Ahmad Bradshaw. The belief was that the team wanted to be better equipped to establish a running game and that between the two of them the Colts could.

In the season opener against the Oakland Raiders the Colts had the fifth best rushing attack in the NFL with 127 yards. Ballard did the bulk of the work gaining 63 yards on 12 carries; Luck added 38 and Bradshaw 26.

To pick up the slack seventh round pick Kerwynn Williams is being called up from the practice squad. A Utah State product, Williams was a heck of a runner in college averaging 5.6 and 6.7 yards a carry in limited action during the 2010 and '11 seasons. During his final season he did even better while carrying a heavier load averaging 6.9 yards a carry on 218 attempts (for 1512 yards).

Donald Brown will likely see an increase in carries as well after not seeing the ball at all against Oakland.

It will also not be surprising if the Colts were to bring in some of the free agent running backs on the market in for a workout like Willis McGahee, Michael Turner, Kevin Smith, or Beanie Wells.