The Colts Season Is Suddenly On Shaky Ground
For the first two months of the NFL season, the Indianapolis Colts looked like one of the best teams in football.
Their offense, led by Jonathan Taylor, was both high-powered and efficient, while their defense was forcing turnovers and keeping teams out of the endzone. Sure, they weren’t playing against the toughest opponents, but they were doing what good teams are supposed to do against inferior competition by blowing them out. Both the AFC South divisional crown and a home playoff game seemed a real possibility.
How quickly things can change.
Now 8-4 following a loss to the Texans, the Colts are losers of two straight and three out of their last four. Their offense has fallen off a cliff as Daniel Jones deals with a fibula fracture, while their defense is suddenly looking very vulnerable. The absence of DeForest Buckner has obviously played a huge role, and things aren’t likely to get any easier with Sauce Gardner likely to miss a few weeks with a calf injury, but it’s still been a stark change from the beginning of the season.
The schedule doesn’t do them any favors either. Next Sunday they’ll be at Jacksonville, which has been a house of horrors for the Colts for over a decade, followed by a trip to Seattle, a matchup at home against the 49ers, a rematch against the Jaguars and finally a trip to Houston to end the regular season. Every one of those games figures to be a competitive matchup that the Colts could either win or lose.
Starting on Sunday at Jacksonville, the Colts must begin pulling out of their nosedive. If this slide continues, and the Colts completely flame out to end the year, not only would it be an incredibly disappointing finish to a once-promising season, but it would also doom the Colts to NFL purgatory since they don’t have a first round pick for the next couple of seasons due to the trade for Gardner.
We may not be in full-on panic mode just yet, and there is still time to right the ship. But the Colts are on much shakier ground than they were just a month ago, when they looked like they would glide to the postseason and an AFC South crown.
During the Monday edition of The Ride With JMV, Stephen Holder of ESPN joined John to discuss the loss to the Texans, the suddenly murky outlook of the season, and more! Listen to that down below and tune into The Ride With JMV weekdays from 3-6pm on 93.5/107.5 The Fan!
