Same old song and dance for the Indianapolis Colts in Jacksonville. The streak is alive and well. And Jacksonville is officially in the heads of the Colts. This game was doomed for Indy before it even happened. Frank Reich decided to have back-to-back days of unusually hard practices on Wednesday and Thursday and then a walk-through on Friday.
This resulted in a quad injury to Michael Pittman Jr. Subsequently, he was ruled out for the game. And rookie Alec Pierce was out due to the concussion he sustained in Week 1, leaving the Colts with only one of their reliable playmakers for an incredibly important game.
Ultimately, it didn’t matter as the Colts were shut out for the third time since 2014 via a 24-0 loss to Jacksonville. During his last two home games against Indy, Trevor Lawrence is 48-of-62 passing (77% completion rate) for 458-yards with four touchdowns and no picks. He’s only been sacked once. So, here’s what happened.
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Indianapolis Colts’ offense is missing
Over the last eight quarters, the Colts have won only two of them. This means that they have outscored their opponents in just 25% of the quarters thus far this season. In these two games, the first-half offense has been abysmal en route to scoring only three points.
The second-half offense is bailed out by the 17 points they scored in the fourth quarter in Houston. Subsequently, the first-half defense has now given up a combined 27 points! This team is just not getting off to fast starts.
A big culprit is the offensive line not performing up to expectations. The team has invested a lot of money in it to be good and it has become a big concern. The left tackle position is still an area that has not been fixed.
It couldn’t get any worse for the Colts
Colts fans thought after watching a year of quarterback play from Carson Wentz that it couldn’t get any worse. Enter Matt Ryan who said “hold my beer.” He didn’t really say that but his play has been incredibly poor. In two games Ryan has thrown only one touchdown and four interceptions.
When the Colts traded for him they were able to convince Atlanta to take on the $40.525 million dead cap hit. Colts fans were shocked and impressed that not only did it only cost them a third-round pick, the finances were also in their favor.
Now, it’s looking like Atlanta knew what it was doing. Prehaps, Ryan’s down ‘21 season had more to do with his declining abilities than the talent around him. Some of the decisions he’s made are ones you don’t expect to see from a veteran. This is trending towards a very long season for Mr. Ryan.
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New defensive coordinator, same results for Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts have not won a game in Jacksonville since 2014. They are now 0-8. Indy has been shutout three times during that span. This zone defense continues to give cushion and allow opponents to pick up chunks of yards under first-year coordinator Gus Bradley.
On the season, this defense has generated only three sacks and given up a combined 44-points. Most concerning is the pass defense. The run defense is good. However, the pass defense has not been good.
Pass coverage and pass rush go hand in hand. And the aforementioned pass rush has been atrocious. Subsequently, asking for coverage to hold up even longer. The secondary has not been up to the challenge.
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Nyheim Hines is looking more like a playmaker
The hashtag #FreeNyheimHines needs to become a thing. On the season, he has been targeted 11 times and he’s caught 10 of them for 87-yards. He is now the team’s third-leading receiver.
Maybe the most encouraging thing is that he is looking more like the playmaker many thought he could be when he was drafted. He also shows some ability to get open and not have to be schemed open. A majority of the other receivers don’t appear to be able to do this, let alone running backs.
The Colts will be looking to get a win or just even score some points next week against the Kansas City Chiefs. This is not an ideal situation as Kansas City got a little bit of extra rest. However, this Colts team needs to ratchet up their sense of urgency and desperation. The team now sits 0-1-1 and near the bottom of the AFC South division. It’s still better than being 0-2, however, it sure doesn’t feel that way.