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The Colts are one of the hottest teams in the NFL, having won five of their last six games, including a huge victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers last week. This week they get the lowly 6-8 Atlanta Falcons, who while still in the divisional race in a trash NFC South, seem to opposite direction. The Falcons have lost five of their last seven games, have benched Desmond Ridder in favor of Taylor Heinicke and have a coach in Arthur Smith that fans seems to be completely over.
That doesn’t mean the Falcons can’t surprise on Sunday. It would be a huge upset and also deliver a blow to the Colts playoff hopes but the Falcons do have some players that can be game-changers if given the opportunity to showcase their skills on Sunday. Bijan Robinson, Drake London, Kyle Pitts, Calais Campbell, Bud Dupree, Arnold Ebiketie, Jessie Bates III are all capable of making some impact plays if given the opportunity. Heinicke is no slouch either despite his backup QB status. I think he’s one of the better, more proven backups in the league and has shown the ability to put teams on his back.
The Colts are riding a high off of their win against the Steelers, they’re hoping to have Jonathan Taylor and Michael Pittman Jr. back with them, they also had some drama surrounding the suspensions of Tony Brown and Isiah McKenzie that could have caused a little bit of a distraction.
I’m not calling for a Falcons win by any stretch but I would have been a lot more confident if Desmond Ridder was still under center slinging the pill. It’s one on Sunday the Colts SHOULD have but it’s also one that could go sideways in a hurry if they get out the gate slow like they did against the Steelers. They were able to score 30 unanswered points after going down two scores early but they don’t want to play with fire for a second consecutive week and risk the chance of getting severely burned.
