diff --git a/plugins/ntp/ntp_packets b/plugins/ntp/ntp_packets
index 1fb19b05..f452926c 100755
--- a/plugins/ntp/ntp_packets
+++ b/plugins/ntp/ntp_packets
@@ -87,7 +87,8 @@ stats_output = subprocess.check_output([cmd, '-c', 'iostats', '-c', 'sysstats'],
                                        universal_newlines=True).splitlines()
 
 for line in stats_output:
-    stats[line.split(':')[0]] = int(line.split(':')[1])
+    if len(line.split(':')) == 2:
+        stats[line.split(':')[0]] = int(line.split(':')[1])
 
 print('received.value ' + str(stats['received packets']))
 print('sent.value ' + str(stats['packets sent']))