The Indianapolis Colts are 6-1. Read that sentence again. The Colts could be 7-0 if it weren’t for several bonehead plays against the Rams. Ok, let’s not focus on what could have been. Let’s focus on the here and now. Seven weeks in and the Colts hold the best record in all of football. Even your most diehard fans would have been hard pressed to place a bet on the current results. Is it sustainable? Will it hold? Those are questions we will have answers to shortly, but in the meantime, it is something to behold.
When Daniel Jones was named the starter, the fanbase was split. Regardless of whether you found yourself on team Richardson or Jones, it seemed apparent that this franchise was going nowhere fast. How could you look at the last ten years and think much differently? Chris Ballard continued to employ old heads and retreads to play the most important position in sports. It hadn’t worked before and here they were going back to that same dried up well again. Jones had been unceremoniously kicked out of New York and took a bag of money with him. It seemed like a season that at best would hover near .500 or at worst, bottom out.
Well, look at the Colts now. Have they played some bad teams? Yep, some really bad ones. Have they obliterated them? Absolutely. They kicked out the collective teeth of the Dolphins, Titans, and Raiders. They handled bad teams exactly as a true contender should. They have played some good teams too in the Broncos, Rams, and Chargers. Luck, both good and bad played a factor in two of them but that is to be expected over the course of a season. Sometimes the ball bounces your way; other times it doesn’t.
What they did on the road against the Chargers, I don’t care how much the Chargers have struggled of late, was highly impressive. It was a major carryover of the offensive onslaught we have seen all year. The Chargers’ defense isn’t exact porous, but it looked as if my friends and I were out there in coverage. Whatever the Colts wanted, they got. Three touchdowns in a row to start a game puts an inordinate amount of pressure on the opposing offense to keep up. The Chargers got it together late, but it was simply that, late. The score was too high and the game too far out of reach. The first place Colts had taken it to them.
No lies here. There was no world in which I had the Colts sitting atop the standings seven weeks into the season. I was camp “7-9”, but certainly wasn’t camp “the number one seed in the AFC is anywhere near a potential reality”. There is so much season left and big games on the schedule coming up. Things can shift quickly in the NFL, but for now, on this October day, the Colts are in first place, not just in their division, but in the entire AFC. Read that sentence again…
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