SI

Colts' Wildly Impressive, Historic Punt Streak Finally Snapped vs. Titans

Liam McKeone

The Colts punted for the first time in 2025 in Week 3.
The Colts punted for the first time in 2025 in Week 3. / NFL
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The Colts' Daniel Jones experiment has gotten off to an utterly shocking start, with Indianapolis going 2-0 to start the season with a dominant offensive showing in each game.

It was also a historic start. The Colts became the first team in NFL history to open the season with two straight games without a punt. The record is certainly reflective of coach Shane Steichen's willingness to go for it on fourth down but is mostly the result of Jones piloting the offense to successful results nearly every time down the field.

That continued through the first quarter-and-change of the team's Week 3 battle against the Titans. But with nine minutes to go in the second quarter, it finally happened—the Colts were forced to punt. After nine quarters the streak is at an end. Punter Rigoberto Sanchez was at last permitted to perform his primary duty.

And it was pretty good, too!

The Titans are not having a good year outside of the flashes Cam Ward is already showing. But this is definitely an accomplishment. The Colts have had one of the NFL's best offenses to start the year and the fact that they didn't punt in the first two games is as impressive as it is a quirk of how those games unfolded. Win or lose on Sunday, Tennessee can at least know the defense succeeded where the Broncos' and Dolphins' units failed.

One of the more fun streaks to be set in recent NFL memory is finally over.

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Liam McKeone
LIAM MCKEONE

Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.

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