The Colts had a new quarterback under center and Sam Ehlinger at the very least lived up to his end of the deal. Ehlinger went 17-of-23 for 201 yards and finished with a QB rating over 100 in the Colts 17-16 loss to the Washington Commanders. Ehlinger wasn’t the reason for the Colts loss, not even close. Despite one fumble, he seemed to be able to handle what the Colts asked him to do and able to adapt to what the Commanders threw at him defensively. Instead, it was some play-calling decisions and a late defensive breakdown that led the Commanders to victory. Frank Reich opted for a 20-yard field goal after Jonathan Taylor was stuffed on third and goal instead of trying to punch it in once again behind the league’s most expensive offensive line. Then, Taylor Heinicke led Washington down the field against the Colts defense, including an outstanding catch by Terry McLaurin at the 1-yard line that set up the go-ahead score.
Ehlinger was decent. He showed some stuff he could do and there is plenty of room for growth but his receivers didn’t do him any favors. Michael Pittman Jr. dropped a sure fire ball that could have led to a huge run and set up a potential last second game-winning field goal attempt. The offensive line continues to be a costly disaster and the tight ends are seemingly nonexistent once again. The Colts fell to 3-4-1 on the season and as Kevin Bowen said on Monday’s Kevin & Query show, “It’s time to sell”.
The NFL trade deadline is Tuesday afternoon and it’ll be interesting to see if the Colts follow KB’s words or stand pat and see what can be accomplished in these final nine games. It would be very un-Colts to actually go out and make a few trades but if they’re willing to pull the plug on Matt Ryan seven games in they could always change their ways in the trade market as well.
At least we have Bendict Mathurin and Tyrese Haliburton, right?
-Marc Dykton
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