The Indianapolis Colts (7-8) are preparing to round out their season with a road trip south to Florida as they take on the Jacksonville Jaguars (5-10) at TIAA Bank Field on Sunday.
As the finale of the regular season approaches, the Colts will begin to shift their focus to the offseason. An important one lies ahead for Indy and the front office. It should be an interesting next few months as they try to get back into the playoff competition for the 2020 season.
Before that though, here are four things to know about the Week 17 matchup:
Both teams had brutal second halves
The second half of the regular season was kind neither to the Colts or the Jaguars. While the latter was far from playoff contention at the mid-way point of the season, the Colts still had a chance all the way up until Week 15.
Over the last eight games, the Colts have lost six contests in that span. Their only wins came against the Jaguars (Week 11) and the Carolina Panthers (Week 16).
On the other side, the Jaguars haven’t had much success either. Over their last eight games, they too have lost six contests. However, it has been in a much uglier fashion.
Jaguars went back to their rookie
While the Colts have their own quarterback situation to deal with, it seems the Jaguars are intent on using their rookie in Gardner Minshew for the foreseeable future.
After Nick Foles broke his collarbone in Week 1, Minshew showed some promise filling in. He took a back seat when Foles returned in Week 11 but only after three games did Minshew reclaim the starting role.
It will be an interesting offseason for the Jaguars to see what they do with Foles, but the Colts will be seeing Minshew on Sunday for the first time this season.
Colts are coming off their most dominating win
It has been a while since the Colts had a dominating performance. The only one they had before Week 16 was their 31-13 win over the Jaguars in Week 11. But they finally got that big win where all three phases came together.
The Colts took it to the Panthers in Week 16, winning 38-6 in their home finale much in part thanks to the efforts of Nyheim Hines on special teams—he took two punt returns for touchdowns.
It didn’t mean much because the Colts were already out of the playoffs, but it was nice to see that they could still have a dominating win.
Colts will find out their draft spot
Much of it depends on the records of the other teams and the finishes in Week 17 but when it is all said and done, the Colts will figure out just where they sit in the 2020 draft order.
Though free agency will have an impact on the Colts’ plans in the draft, there are several ways they can go. Either they look to find a quarterback successor for Brissett or they look to shore up the depth on the interior defensive line and wide receiver room.
Regardless, the Colts will figure out just where they stand in the draft order when Sunday’s games are concluded.
