What a difference a day can make.
Saturday, the Indianapolis Colts were on the mountaintop, well aware of the playoff run they and their MVP-caliber running back could make once they took care of the lowly 2-14 Jacksonville Jaguars.
Come Sunday, the Colts were completely deflated, buried in infamy, and sent into a premature offseason after the Jags crushed them in an avalanche-like storm.
Indy entered the contest as 15-point favorites over their opponents, and most oddsmakers predicted that the team would barnstorm Jacksonville en route to a postseason berth.
Jacksonville’s defense was one of the worst in the league on paper entering the matchup, and had recorded just six INTs in its first 16 games (second-fewest league-wide), while Colts QB Carson Wentz relinquished just three in his last eight starts. Wentz had been commendable against the Jags in his career, tossing 466 yards, three TDs and just one interception in two career starts vs. the team.
Trevor Lawrence and the Jags’ offense meanwhile, amassed a surplus of 300 yards just once over the past five weeks (they were held under 200 yards twice), and gave away 10 turnovers. They were fresh off a 50-10 beatdown at the hands of the New England Patriots.
But Sunday proved to be a sheer anomaly for both sides.
Wentz was abominable in the first half, tossing one incompletion after another, as Indy registered a turnover on its first drive, settled for three on its second, then went three-and-out to close the first half.
Calamity continued for No. 2 in the second half. He fumbled in his own territory on the team’s first drive of the half in a turnaround that resulted in three points for Jacksonville, then followed that turnover with an interception.
Indy turned the ball over on downs twice more before finally scoring its first TD with 4:26 remaining in the fourth quarter. That TD, and ensuing 2-point conversion came far too late to matter though, and Indy’s offense walked off the field with just 11 points to its name in the decisive final game.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Taylor remained relatively absent as well. Normally a stat-sheet stuffer, Taylor amassed just 77 yards on the ground (his lowest total since Week 8). His numbers have been directly attached to Indy’s winning chances throughout the season: They’re now 0-7 when he fails to eclipse 100 yards, while torpedoing to a 9-1 record in the opposite case.
Jacksonville on the other hand, solved its prior offensive shortcomings with a 26-point masterpiece. Lawrence was fiery from the jump, leading a 12-play, 75-yard scoring expedition that resulted in six on the team’s opening drive. He threw his second TD pass of the day late in the third quarter to Marvin Jones Jr., and finished perhaps his most impressive performance of the season with 223 yards on a 23/32 clip, and a 111.9 QB rating. The Jags scored on six of their nine total drives.
Jacksonville moved to 4-0 at home against Indianapolis in their last four matchups, while they’re just 5-21 at home against all other teams. It’s their first double-digit win since Week 17 in 2019 (ironically, a 38-20 victory over the Colts).
For Indy, questions are swirling after not only losing, but doing so in dreadful fashion.
The Colts lost the turnover battle by two, which marked their second-worst turnover margin of the season. They failed to register a takeaway in the game for just the second time all year as well, after entering it with the league’s second-best total in that category, with 33.
And their defensive woes, coupled with their offensive failures, have summed together to create a one-way ticket straight to a home theater seat for the playoffs. Owner Jim Irsay’s “win now” ploy has come back to bite the team in the worst way.
Wentz doesn’t look like a franchise centerpiece. T.Y. Hilton and Jack Doyle could be retiring. They need help at receiver to aid 1,000-yard man Michael Pittman Jr.
And oh yeah, they need a starting left tackle, which is a piece that looks that much harder to acquire in next year’s draft after the Wentz trade gave Philadelphia the Colts’ first-round rights.
The Colts are now done for this season, and why it could get worse: This season might not be the only one impacted by Sunday’s loss to Jacksonville.
There’s a reason why they play the games.
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