The Indianapolis Colts traveled west to Sin City on Sunday. Coming into the game, this was a matchup of two bad teams. Las Vegas was 2-6 and Indianapolis was 3-5-1. And a strong debate could be made as to which team’s head coach was under the most pressure. Josh McDaniels could be the first head coach to lose to a team whose head coach had never coached above high school.
Jeff Saturday had never coached above high school and was given the opportunity to be the Colts’ interim head coach. Well, Indianapolis was able to make enough plays and come out with a victory.
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The streak is finally over
Coming into the game, the Colts had a streak of 11 consecutive games trailing at halftime. It finally ended against Las Vegas. The question though is did it end because of all the coaching changes or because of the opponent? That question probably won’t be answered until next week. For now, the streak is over and the Colts were able to go into halftime with a lead and feeling good.
Another Colts game, another Indianapolis Colts turnover
The Colts lead the NFL with 18 turnovers. In fact, they now have a four-game streak with at least one turnover. Conversely, coming into this game their defense had a five-game streak of generating at least one turnover. Unfortunately, it came to an end. Hopefully, next week the offense can end their streak.
The new head coach in his debut
This past week saw the Colts in the news for a couple of big reasons. First, they fired Rank Reich. Then, they hired Jeff Saturday to be the interim coach. And Saturday’s first decision was to move Parks Frazier into the offensive coordinator position.
So, that meant the Colts had two guys in two important positions who had minimal experience in either position or calling plays. All in all, Saturday was not lacking in confidence in taking on this job. When the game got underway in Las Vegas, the Colts jumped out to a double-digit lead in the first half. As previously mentioned, the team had a lead at halftime.
Something that was obvious to see in this game was the team looking sharp and focused. In fact, the offensive line played arguably their best game of the season. The only other game that comes close is the game against Jacksonville in Indianapolis.
Maybe the better play has something to do with Saturday being a former offensive lineman. Or maybe it’s because he knows how to fire up and lead a team. Being able to lead people is a transferable skill. The bottom line, this team looked much closer to what fans were expecting when the season started. The best part of it all was the fact that the Colts got a win in his debut.
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The Indianapolis Colts have linebacker depth
One other thing that made headlines was the Colts putting Shaquille Leonard on IR and possibly ending his season. He posted a video on Twitter stating that he had a setback and that’s why he went on IR. While the loss of Leonard and his ability to force turnovers will be sorely missed.
However, the Colts do have some pretty good depth with their linebackers. Zaire Franklin, Bobby Okereke, and E.J. Speed have all played a lot this season. Now after this season, Okereke and Speed are both set to be free agents. And Leonard, if he doesn’t retire, is set to have a $20.2 million cap hit.
Now, if Leonard does continue his playing career it will be interesting to see if the Colts decide to bring back Speed and/or Okereke. Regardless, Okereke, Speed, and Franklin played really good games against Las Vegas even if the stats don’t necessarily back it up.
- Franklin: 10 tackles, seven solo and one tackle for loss
- Speed: three tackles, two solo
- Okereke: nine tackles, six solos, one pass breakup
These three did a good job in coverage and stopping the run. It is curious that Okereke got routinely matched up covering Davante Adams. But it didn’t lead to any huge play for Las Vegas. As previously stated, the Colts were able to win in Saturday’s debut. What a week it’s been for the organization. For now, they look like they know what they’re doing. And they’ll be gearing up for next week’s game against an undefeated Philadelphia Eagles squad.