The Indianapolis Colts headed on the road this week to take on the New York Giants. These two teams are going in opposite directions, despite statistically not being that far apart. The Giants were competing for a playoff spot. While the Colts are competing for a high draft pick, coming in with a five-game losing streak.
Since the Giants won this game, 38-10, they have secured their spot in the playoffs. Their first appearance in the playoffs since 2016. Meanwhile, the last time the Colts made the playoffs was in 2020, and are now on a six-game losing streak. Let’s get to the instant reactions from this game.
Indianapolis Colts can’t get early leads
Dating back to January 2nd of 2022, in the Colts’ last 18 games they went into halftime trailing in 15 of them. During the Frank Reich era, this was an all-too-frequent occurrence.
Yet, they made changes this season to try to combat this issue. Nothing has worked to fix this problem. It is something that the organization and the next coaching staff will need to prioritize.
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Decision to extend Jonathan Taylor becoming complicated
The Colts’ starting running back Jonathan Taylor’s season is over. He was coming into the year as last year’s leading rusher. He’s also on his rookie contract, and a decision to extend him or not will need to be made either this offseason or next, as his current contract is almost up.
The running back position in the NFL has been devalued over the past few seasons as the NFL has shifted to more of a passing league. There is no question that Taylor is a special talent. However, the running back position is not as vital as it used to be.
Plus, the Colts have another running back on their roster who has shown he could be just as good as Taylor. Zack Moss, since being traded to the Colts, has shown that he can be a high-quality running back in the NFL. He’s averaging over four yards per carry, and in this game, he finished with 15 carries for 74 yards, a 4.9 avg.
Now both Moss and Taylor’s current contracts expire after the 2023 season. So the team will need to decide what to do with both of them. At this point, Moss is projected to be the cheaper of the two, considering he hasn’t been given as many opportunities as Taylor.
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Colts allow Daniel Jones to have the best game of his career
A lot of talk out of New York was about what the Giants might do with Daniel Jones after this season. Would they extend him or let him walk? Well, the Colts greatly helped the Giants and their evaluation of Jones.
- 19/24, 177 yards, 7.4 YPA, two touchdowns
- 11 carries, 91 yards, 8.3 avg, and two touchdowns.
If this is what Brian Daboll and his coaching staff can do in their first year with Jones, it’s scary to think about how this team will look next season. Now, with all of that being said, the Colts’ defense came into this game very banged up.
Kenny Moore, Isaiah Rodgers, and Yannick Ngakoue are all on IR. Then in the game, Brandon Facyson was ruled out with a concussion. All of these injuries handicapped the Colts’ defense. And it was evident that the team could have used their help.
Next up will be the final week in the regular season and the last game for the Colts this season, taking on Houston at home. Both teams will be competing for draft positions in the top five. And with Nick Foles being knocked out of this game, it will be interesting to see who starts at quarterback for the Colts in the season finale.
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