Colts Disappoint in Loss vs. Titans as Season Begins to Spiral
Indianapolis Colts running back Nyheim Hines summed up what we were all thinking on Sunday afternoon.
“That is ridiculous,” Hines said, obviously disgusted.
He is absolutely right. Taking on the Tennessee Titans, who have won the AFC South the past two years, you would expect the Colts to be fired up for this game. Owner Jim Irsay tweeted at Colts fans earlier in the week, challenging them to show up “pissed off, intense, primal.”
The fans listened, bringing great energy to Lucas Oil Stadium to cheer on their team. However, it seems someone forgot to tell the Colts to come with that same energy, or at least until the second half started.
An uninspired start by the Colts was accompanied by sloppy football throughout the afternoon as they dropped to the Titans, 24-17. The loss marks their fourth straight loss to the Titans and their fifth loss in the last six games against Mike Vrabel’s team. Long gone are the days where Andrew Luck would simply show up and hand the Titans an L, as the superstar QB was 11-0 against the divisional foe.
“Tough loss,” head coach Frank Reich said after the game. “Hats off to the Titans. They came in, played a good game, well-coached, and it's hard to win a game when you lose the turnover battle the way we did and started the way we did, put ourselves behind the hole, and just not good enough.”
Sunday’s contest played out how every game has played out for the Colts so far in 2022. Indy got off to a slow start, once again, facing a 24-3 deficit before halftime. The offense stumbled to get things going, giving the Titans short fields and putting the defense in tough positions. The Colts attempted to make a comeback but could not overcome the turnovers and poor execution.
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“Felt like we had a good plan coming into it, and we just haven't been able to get into sync early enough in games throughout the year,” Matt Ryan said. “That's something that we have to address and get better at and fix because there are times where it's actually very good. We need to strive for better consistency, better starts, and just get into a rhythm earlier.”
While not solely his fault, Ryan has his fingerprints all over the slow starts. Ryan continued to give the ball away to the opposing team as he lost one of his two fumbles on the day and threw his fifth interception in four games. With nine fumbles in four games, Ryan’s fumbling issues are no longer a fluke but a serious problem hurting this team.
“Turnovers are always, they're one of the – if not the most important one or two most critical stats when it comes to winning ballgames or at least giving yourself a chance to win,” Ryan explained. “I've got to do a better job protecting it. We collectively have to do a better job protecting it, and I think if we can do that, we can be pretty good.”
Ryan is not the only person to blame. Outside of the tight end group – which had 180 yards and two touchdowns among the three – and rookie wide receiver Alec Pierce, there was not much to like from the offense.
Stop me if you have heard this before: The Colts’ offensive line struggled to do much of anything Sunday. Ryan was sacked three times and pressured on numerous other throws. Holes for Jonathan Taylor and Hines were nonexistent, as the Colts rushed for 38 yards total. Will Fries got the start for Danny Pinter at right guard, and while it looked to be an improvement, the overall play of the offensive line did not change much.
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For all the questions coming into the season for Indy, being able to run the football was never on that list. The Colts have the reigning rushing champ in Taylor and another dynamic running back in Hines. The offensive line, led by Quenton Nelson, Ryan Kelly, and Braden Smith, prides itself on being maulers in the ground game.
But the Colts have been abysmal running the football. They are only generating 87.8 yards per game on the ground and a 3.5 yards per carry average, both sixth-worst in the NFL. For a franchise that wore “Run The Damn Ball” hats just a few years ago, they cannot block any-damn-body.
“The run game has got to get better,” Reich admitted. “It's just hard to know – the way we do things, the way we scheme it, the way we block it, we've had a process in place for five years that has been very productive. We're always tweaking it and trying to get little things, but we're not getting the production as we said. So as players and coaches we've got to figure that out.”
“Just have to find a way to get out of that funk,” said tight end Mo Alie-Cox, who had two touchdowns Sunday. “Teams know we are going to run the ball, so we just have to get a little more creative in getting Jonathan free. Jonathan is a great back, but we have to able to open holes for him to give him space to do what he needs to do.”
To make things worse for the running game, Taylor left the game in the fourth quarter after fumbling the football on third-and-two when his ankle was twisted at the bottom of the pile. Taylor did not return to the game, and his status for Thursday’s matchup with the Denver Broncos is up in the air.
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The Colts now sit at 1-2-1 with an egregious 0-2-1 record in the AFC South. To put things in perspective, the AFC South as a whole has five wins total between its four teams. Two of those wins are against the Colts.
As the Colts spoke after the game, we heard the same answers that we have heard for a while now. The team has been here before, and they are not giving up.
“We've got to put this behind us,” Reich said, emphatically. “Still feel all of our goals are out in front of us. I feel like we're seeing some things that we want to see. We just need to play better.”
“We’re a resilient organization,” said linebacker Zaire Franklin. “We’ve been through everything. In my years we – I hate to always reference the things we’ve been through, but it just shows in everything that we go through. So, it’s nothing but fight in this team.”
“This is not a position that we haven’t not been in before,” Hines admitted. “We’ll turn it around and we’ll figure it out.”
Yes, they have been here before. The Colts were 1-5 in 2018 before ripping off nine wins in their final ten games to make the playoffs. They were 1-4 last season before going 8-3 and practically wrapping up a playoff spot before running out of gas.
But this time feels different. Luck is not walking back through that door to save this franchise. Their ability to run the ball, the identity of this team for the last half-decade, is nonexistent.
The issues that are plaguing this Colts’ team in 2022 are not getting any better. Any confidence that this team can turn things around will not be restored until they can prove it on the field. That is if they even can turn things around.
Hines is correct, it is ridiculous for a team with this much talent to be having these many issues. And you can bet that if things continue to spiral, Irsay will be making some major changes by season’s end.
Want more Colts content? Check out the latest episode of the Horseshoe Huddle Podcast below as Chad Jensen and Andrew Moore give their bold predictions and keys to victory for the Colts' matchup with the Titans!
Follow Andrew on Twitter @AndrewMooreNFL.
