The Colts face the heart of their regular season schedule which features a number of formidable foes consecutively.
It hasn’t always been pretty, but this year’s Indianapolis Colts sit at 4-3 and currently hold onto an AFC wild card spot as the conference’s #6 seed—a spot up from last week.
The Colts have largely won the games they were supposed to win and really swapped a good home win against the Pittsburgh Steelers (5-2), with a bad loss, which was on the road against the Jacksonville Jaguars (2-5).
However, the Colts face a grueling upcoming stretch of games as follows: @ Houston Texans (5-2), @ Minnesota Vikings (5-1), Buffalo Bills (5-2), @ New York Jets (2-5), and the Detroit Lions (5-1). Four of those teams are projected to make the playoffs, with three currently leading their respective divisions among them.
While the Jets are clearly the outlier of that group—having lost the last four games in a row, it’s still a road game against a tough defense, and perhaps the much anticipated reunion of former All-Pro wideout Davante Adams with veteran quarterback Aaron Rodgers will jumpstart their clearly jet-lagged offense.
At any rate, the Colts will likely need to at least go no worse than 2-3 during that difficult stretch to keep their late season playoff hopes alive. However, a winning record would be of course be the preferred route, all things considered.
Each of those upcoming five opponents ranks in the Top 16 defenses in EPA/play right now—meaning it’s a formidable challenge for a Colts offense that’s still trying to find its proper footing under returning 2nd-year starter Anthony Richardson—although star workhorse Jonathan Taylor (ankle) coming back fully healthy soon would assuredly help matters.
