The Indianapolis Colts travel south to visit their house of horrors in Jacksonville. The last time they left town with a victory in hand was in 2014 against the Jaguars. During these nine years of torture, the Colts have been shut out twice. Maybe the most crushing loss of all was last season’s.
So far this season, the Colts have been on a mission to not repeat past season’s slow starts. They are 0-0-1 on the year, and this is their best start since 2014. This week they had two “unusually hard” practices on Wednesday and Thursday, thus only doing walk-throughs on Friday. It is an odd sequence, especially since their game is on Sunday and not Saturday.
Regardless, this should be showing that the team is taking this game seriously and are doing whatever it takes to vanquish this streak. Or it means that Jacksonville is already in the heads of the Colts, and the team is overthinking this situation. Time to focus on three important matchups for this week.
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After a bad first week, the Colts’ offense needs to bounce back
Matt Ryan had an arguably worse Colts debut than Carson Wentz. This week Ryan and the offense will need to bounce back. On paper, Jacksonville’s defense offers a stiffer challenge than Houston’s. However, Houston gave the Indy offense fits. So, maybe Jacksonville won’t be so problematic?
After the surprising problem of the center-quarterback exchange that led to numerous fumbles. Hopefully, Ryan and Ryan Kelly have got the problem solved. Otherwise, it’ll be difficult for the offense to get going at all. The Jacksonville defense did give up 390-yards of offense to Washington. Per Pro Football Reference, Jacksonville ranks 26th in net yards gained per pass attempt at 7.3 per pass, seventh in rushing yards per attempt at 3 per carry, and 15th in percentage of drives ending in an offensive score at 33.3%.
They also rank eighth in blitz percentage at 33.3%. However, they only have one sack which is good enough to be tied for 23rd in the NFL. Ryan should have time in the pocket as Jacksonville ranks 20th in quarterback knockdown percentage at 7.3%. And Jacksonville is tied for last with zero hurries. All this should set up for a much better and more efficient passing offense from the Colts.
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Will the real Colts’ second receiver please stand up
The bane of general manager Chris Ballard’s Colts tenure has been wide receivers and not having enough of them. With that being said, the team drafted wide receiver Alec Pierce out of Cincinnati with the hopes of him filling the need for a spot opposite of Michael Pittman Jr.
Well, after Week 1, there is still no clear-cut leader for the No. 2 wide receiver role. In training camp, Pierce was competing against Parris Campbell and Ashton Dulin. Those three are still competing, but now they’re accompanied by Nyheim Hines.
Last week Dulin and Hines tied for third on the team in targets with six. Pierce had two before being knocked out of the game, and he’s been ruled out for Week 2. MPJ will still get the lion’s share of the targets, but someone else needs to step up and be the consistent second option. Can a clubhouse leader establish himself?
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Calling on all of the pass rushers
Last season one of the biggest problems the Colts’ defense had was not being able to consistently and effectively generate a pass rush. The team put a lot of hope on rookie Kwity Paye being able to come in and make an immediate impact. That’s not how it went.
So, this offseason, they traded for Yannick Ngakoue. Now the thought is that DeForest Buckner won’t be seeing double and triple teams. And there will be less pressure on Paye as Ngakoue will get a majority of the focus.
Well, last week, they racked up only three sacks and knockdowns each, one from E.J. Speed and two from Paye. The Colts did get 10 pressures which are good enough for 18th in the league. And they currently rank 14th with four hurries. This is not what anyone is expecting.
Jacksonville has made some improvements to its offensive line. However, last week they let their QB get sacked twice and take 10 hits. This sets up for a good week for the Indy pass rush to get on track.
The most important aspect to watch is the scoreboard. At this point, the Colts need to come out of this game with the victory in hand. All of this other stuff is nice but finally winning in Jacksonville is the most important thing to watch.
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