As crazy as this may sound, I’m not in a place of concern for the Indianapolis Colts (6-6) right now. For them to be in this position, losers of four out of their last five games seem to be fitting a team that, at one point, was thriving under more than unfavorable situations. But of course, the tide begins to change.
Following their 5-2 start to the season, the Colts are once again at the .500 mark as they lost to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. Despite possessing a 10-point lead early in the third quarter, the Colts couldn’t build off of it as they allowed the Titans to score 24 points en route to winning 31-17.
Here are five postgame takeaways from the Week 13 loss:
Another target is seriously injured
For an offense that was already dealing with various injuries to its biggest contributors, they didn’t need to suffer another one on Sunday. But, of course, you can’t get everything you ask for. During the second quarter, wide receiver Chester Rogers was injured and eventually ruled out of the game, and we discovered why earlier on Monday.
The Colts’ third receiver in command (when everyone is healthy) and starting punt returner suffered a season-ending knee fracture. While Rogers didn’t produce a catch in Sunday’s game, his absence still hurt the Colts’ struggling offense. The Grambling State product is capable of making timely plays that spark their offense and is well-versed in Frank Reich’s offensive scheme.
How are we judging Brissett this week?
By certain numbers, quarterback Jacoby Brissett played his best game in weeks against the Titans on Sunday. His 25 completions and 319 passing yards are the most he’s produced since Week 7 and when you watch Brissett play, he made more of an effort to throw downfield. But as they say, “there’s more to the surface.”
Despite the Colts’ QB1 putting up a high number of completions and passing yards, his performance was still very much a mixed bag. First of all, there were his two inexcusable interceptions in the second half, which put the Titans in great field position. Secondly, Brissett was sacked multiple times, which makes this the fifth time it has happened this season.
Lastly, it’s a manner of his decision-making while reading the Titans’ secondary. Whether it was through his first couple of reads or after the play broke down, No. 7 missed at least a handful of opportunities to make a big play for the Colts.
Doyle is still Mr. Reliable
It’s been a while since I’ve written about Jack Doyle in these pieces, so it feels good doing this again. Although Doyle was always a key piece of this Colts’ offense, his limited production causes him to be overlooked, especially when the likes of Marlon Mack, T.Y. Hilton, and Eric Ebron are the biggest playmakers on offense.
But given the severe injury situation in Indianapolis, which includes Mack, Hilton, and Ebron, the Colts returned to depending on Doyle as their starting tight end and it paid off on Sunday. Along with wide receiver Zach Pascal (seven catches, 10 targets, and 109 receiving yards), the Western Kentucky product greatly helped the Colts’ offense.
Out of his team-leading 11 targets against the Titans, Doyle caught six passes for 73 receiving yards and one touchdown and was every bit of the “security blanket” Brissett needed in order to navigate the short-intermediate passing game.
Henry dominated their latest battle
As I mentioned in my latest key matchups piece, the battle between running back Derrick Henry and the Colts’ top-eight rushing defense was going to be huge for this game. If the Colts were able to contain this top-five leader in rushing yards, then their job on defense would have been much easier to execute.
When it was all said and done, Henry not only won his battle against the Colts’ defense, he dominated it. From his first couple of runs which gained over six yards per carry, the Alabama product wasn’t going to be slowed down. Henry would produce 149 rushing yards and one touchdown.
Do you remember when I said the Titans would likely give Henry more carries in order to make it easier for their passing game? Well, consider me right, because that actually happened. On Sunday, Henry carried the ball 26 times, just one short of his season-high total from the Titans’ Week 4 win vs. Atlanta.
Look, man, I will try my hardest
Nah, I lied. Sorry, Kevin (my lovely editor). At this point, I don’t know what to write about the Colts’ special teams’ struggles because it has expanded to everyone in this unit and I didn’t know such struggles could exist.
Whether it’s Adam Vinatieri still struggling to make his kicks or the duo of Rigoberto Sanchez and Luke Rhodes failing to properly hold and snap the ball, I’m at a loss for words when it comes to that part of the team.
Do you know how bad it has become when performance suddenly goes from possibly costing your team five or six points per game to 13? HOW DOES ANY SPECIAL TEAMS’ UNIT SURRENDER 13 POINTS IN A DOME OUT OF ALL PLACES? Ok, I’m done.
