The Indianapolis Colts traveled to New England with a small bit of hope that they could leave with a victory. The hope stemmed from the fact that New England hasn’t been very good, their starting quarterback has struggled, and the Colts made a change with their offensive coordinator.
Well, in the first quarter, the two teams combined for a total of 44-yards. It was just bad football. Then, New England was able to make some plays and score some points. The Colts, on the other hand, were never able to get on track all day. In fact, they finished the game 0-14 on third downs and 0-2 on fourth-down. They also averaged 2 yards per play and went three and out seven times in the game.
The streak just continues
The Colts came into the game with a streak of 10 games trailing at the half. They fired their offensive coordinator because the team’s slow starts were a result of his coaching. Well, that streak of trailing at the half has now reached 11 games. At this point, the best chance for the streak to end comes in the final game of the regular season against Houston.
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Maybe the wrong coach was let go
As previously stated, the Colts parted ways with their offensive coordinator, Marcus Brady. The reason is the team’s slow starts in games, which is now up to 11 games. Well, in the first game with Frank Reich absorbing all of the offensive coordinator responsibilities, the offense was undeniably worse.
- Five first downs
- 0-7 on 3rd downs
- 64 total yards
- 2.1 yards per play
- Five sacks
- Missed FG & blocked punt
Not only did Reich terminate Brady, he also said that offensive line coach Chris Strausser was doing a fine job. This offensive line is the highest-paid in the NFL. Yet their play has not been anywhere close to justifying that money.
Another “fun” stat on the Colts this season, is the team has gone into every fourth quarter of the game trailing. It’s becoming harder and harder to validate the reason for keeping Reich employed as the team’s head coach. And in case anyone has forgotten, the team has benched their starting quarterback, made a bunch of changes to their starting offensive line (which are all performance related), and fired their offensive coordinator.
Yet, with all of these changes, the results have stayed the same. The team falls behind in games, struggles to score points, and take care of the football. This season is officially over.
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Indianapolis Colts defense is the only plus
The Colts’ defense is the only part of the team that continues to play well. The problem is they are on the field practically the entire game. And because they are on the field so much, they are fatigued by the end of the game. Another thing that has been a problem is their lack of generating turnovers.
One of the reasons is that the Colts are always playing from behind. So, it’s much more difficult to generate turnovers when the opponent is playing a little bit more conservatively. When the opponent is behind, they tend to be a little more aggressive. Even with all of this being said, Bobby Okereke was able to force a fumble, and the Colts turned it into a made field goal.
This Colts’ defense is a unit that many NFL GMs would love to have. It’s a unit that can win games, possibly Super Bowls. Unfortunately, the Colts’ offense is a unit that no NFL team can win with. And judging by fans’ reactions, apathy is growing more and more prominent. It will be interesting to see if the NFL moves the Colts from any of their prime-time games later this season.
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