Colts Notebook: Goals For Daniel Jones
Colts Wednesday Notebook: Goals For Daniel Jones
INDIANAPOLIS – Welcome to game week for the Colts 2025 season.
It’ll be the Colts and Dolphins on Sunday afternoon inside of Lucas Oil Stadium.
What did we learn from the Colts on Wednesday?
–Stay steady. Find completions. Stay on track. Don’t make bad plays worse. That’s the message from Shane Steichen to Daniel Jones heading into his first start as Colts quarterback. If you can adopt a baseball analogy for how the Colts have evolved at QB under Steichen, they’ve gone from more of the home run hitter (Anthony Richardson) to more of the singles and doubles guy (Shane Steichen). There’s a fine balance in a passing offense becoming too horizontal. How the Colts walk this will be interesting to watch.
-While the Dolphins and Colts faced off last year in Lucas Oil Stadium (a 16-10 win for Indianapolis), both starting QBs will be different on Sunday. And while the Colts think they are getting steadier (better?) at quarterback, the Dolphins are certainly much better with Tua Tagovailoa. The Dolphins are 17-11 in the last two seasons with Tagovailoa, as he led the NFL in completion percentage. In Tagovailoa’s career, the Dolphins average 6 points more per game than without him. That’s a notable number and different than Colts/Dolphins life last year with Miami playing Tim Boyle and Tyler Huntley.
-A bit lost in the shuffle of such a chaotic Colts offseason, Year 3 has arrived for Shane Steichen as head coach. Steichen has a .500 record through two years, with quarterbacks Anthony Richardson, Gardner Minshew and Joe Flacco. That’s not a bad mark. But where does Steichen point to as areas of growth going into his third season at the helm? “Just everything,” Steichen, 40, said on Wednesday. “You learn as you go. Some things you learn and you want to tweak. Even this (Wednesday) morning in the team meeting, just being more precise on how we are going to win the game. We always talk about how to win the game. But it’s like, ‘Hey, here are the main things. Right? You can have 6 or 7 things but here are the 3 things on offense, defense and special teams that we need to do to win the game.’ Be very clear and direct in that. The messaging has got to be on point every single week on how we need to win the game. And continue to be a leader, right? I always talk about leadership, it’s inspire, empower and guide. That’s my job as a head coach.”
-Around Sunday’s season opener, a big part of the afternoon at Lucas Oil Stadium will be about honoring late Colts Owner Jim Irsay. During halftime, the Colts will induct Irsay into the team’s Ring of Honor. Fans in attendance will receive “For the Boss” t-shirts. Shane Steichen added the team will have additional ways to honor Irsay, to be announced later.
-It’s a little thing, but you do have some staff overlap as the Colts offense gets ready to face Miami and defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver for a second straight year. New Colts secondary coach and pass game coordinator Chris Hewitt comes over from Baltimore, where he was on the defensive staff for multiple years with Anthony Weaver (2021-23).
-Ugh, Week 1 is here, so time to dig up the ugliest of all streaks. Yes, the Colts have not won a season opener since 2013. That adds up to 10 losses and 1 tie (in 2022 against Houston). The opposing quarterback you last beat in Week 1? Terrelle Pryor. Your leading pass catcher in that game? (4th year wide receivers coach) Reggie Wayne. Your leading tackler in that game? LaRon Landry. The Colts will try to end the longest Week 1 winning drought on Sunday as a 1-point favorite over the Dolphins.
-For me, I put Sunday as one of the most important games of the Colts season, and it has little to do with it being Week 1/the 11-year drought of winning the opener. Like the past two years, the Colts and Dolphins are two teams that could very well be in the mix for those 3 Wild Card spots. If that’s the case, then a Week 1 result will have some serious playoff implications come December/January. And the same thing could be said for Week 2 vs. Denver. These are huge Colts games right out of the gate.
-Going deep into “what to watch for” in a game with just a 1-point spread, you two have placekicking questions on both sides. The Colts have gone with Spencer Shrader as their placekicker. He’s attempted 5 field goals in his NFL career, and none from past 50 yards. The Dolphins had to make a recent kicker change due to an injury to veteran Jason Sanders. It’ll be Riley Patterson kicking for them. Like Shrader, Patterson kicked for 3 teams last year, going 4-of-7. Keep an eye on this one.
-What an opportunity this is for Daniel Jones to try and resurrect his career. When asked if he thinks about that on Wednesday, Jones shared this: “Yeah, I’m excited to get out there,” Jones said. “Quarterbacks are judged by winning. Teams are judged by winning games so that’s what I’m focused on. I think we have a group of guys that are focused the same way. I’m excited to get out there. I know we’ve put in a lot of work and we are all excited to get out there.”
-Zaire Franklin announced on Wednesday he will once again tie in some financial philanthropy with his tackle number this season. In partnering with Coca-Cola, Franklin will donate $44 per tackle to the Boys and Girls Club of Indianapolis, along with organizing a handful of pizza parties for those kids throughout the year. In 2024, Franklin’s 173 tackle total raised more than $16,000, with Coca-Cola matching the linebacker’s donation.
-Curious to see the week-to-week workload for Jonathan Taylor. He finished last season 2nd to just Saquon Barkley with 21.6 carries per game. He carried a heavier load late in the year (had 25, 22, 29, 32, 34 carries across the final 5 weeks of the season). It’s uncertain how the Colts will handle the reps behind Taylor with questions around a rookie (D.J. Giddens), an injury (Tyler Goodson) and then 2 guys on the practice squad (veteran Khalil Herbert and rookie Ulysses Bentley IV).
-A unique storyline for Sunday involves new Colts cornerback Xavien Howard facing his old team. Howard, 32, didn’t play last year in the NFL, but spent his entire career before that with the Dolphins. Howard, who is going back to his high school/college ranks by wearing jersey No. 4, was signed by the Colts on August 18th and immediately inserted into the starting lineup when the Colts use 3 cornerbacks on the field. On Wednesday, Howard said the talking this week will be at a minimum between him and his former teammates. And, just a reminder, speaking of former cornerbacks, JuJu Brents is now down with the Dolphins, although his playing time for Miami is a bit more uncertain for Week 1.
-In case you missed it, here are my thoughts on the Colts first depth chart of the 2025 season.
-As we await the Colts first official injury report of 2025, the team looks to be very healthy going into Week 1. From all the recent injured guys, the Colts appear to be a pretty healthy group going into Sunday’s opener. Injured guys in RB-Tyler Goodson, WR-Josh Downs, OT-Braden Smith, CB-Jaylon Jones, S-Nick Cross were all back practicing on Wednesday. Unless something unexpected occurs, it looks like the Colts will have 21 of their 22 expected starters (CB-Justin Walley, torn ACL) ready for Sunday. On Wednesday, all 53 Colts on their active roster practiced. Goodson was the only limited participant.
-The Colts are now in their regular season mode, practicing Wednesday-Friday. With no Thursday night game or bye week until November, this should be their normal cadence for the first half of the 2025 season.
