Perhaps it’s being jaded from recent late season franchise collapses, but the Indianapolis Colts continue to fade at the wrong time—having now lost 3 of their last 4 games with a 20-16 home loss on Sunday to the Houston Texans. The Colts are now tied atop the AFC South with the suddenly surging Jacksonville Jaguars, […]
Perhaps it’s being jaded from recent late season franchise collapses, but the Indianapolis Colts continue to fade at the wrong time—having now lost 3 of their last 4 games with a 20-16 home loss on Sunday to the Houston Texans.
The Colts are now tied atop the AFC South with the suddenly surging Jacksonville Jaguars, who have won three straight, and still have to play them twice to end the season, as well as Houston on the road one more time.
Here are a few of my quick takeaways:
- The Texans’ elite defense was as good as advertised, limiting the Colts offense to 16 total points, and although it should’ve been 17 points had it not been for a missed Michael Badgley extra point, it felt like outside of a few Alec Pierce and Josh Downs big catches, Indianapolis lacked explosive play ability. The Texans pressured Jones all afternoon, and Indianapolis has to score more than 16-17 points offensively in order to win in the modern day NFL for what was the league’s highest scoring offense entering the day. Yes, even against the Texans.
- Daniel Jones has clearly lost some of his early season shine. Jones’ line on the day, completing 14 of 27 pass attempts for 201 total passing yards, 2 passing touchdowns, and 0 interceptions wasn’t bad by any means and was a workmanlike effort given he was playing through a fractured fibula. However, it sure feels like the Colts are a lot less dynamic at the position than they felt during that hot stretch of the season earlier. The Texans kept Jones in the pocket and pressured him, and it sure feels like his sudden lack of mobility has also negatively impacted the dynamic ability of the Colts once incredibly formidable ground game with star workhorse Jonathan Taylor, who’s recently been largely bottled up by opposing defenses. The Colts have lost those games with the two seemingly going hand-in-hand.
- Alec Pierce continues to be a priority free agent re-signing for the Colts this upcoming offseason. His ability to separate downfield, high point the football, and make leaping contested catches is an incredibly special skill-set. His 19-yard touchdown reception midway through the 2nd quarter was a thing of beauty.
- Wideout Josh Downs had a very up-and-Downs day, with a few great diving snags—only to have a very frustrating 3rd and 8 drop later in the game that killed the Colts offensive momentum.
- Colts rookie tight end Tyler Warren had a pretty quiet game with 3 receptions for 22 total receiving yards collectively, but kudos to him likely playing through an illness, and collecting the Colts 2nd touchdown of the game with a 12-yard touchdown reception late in the 3rd quarter. According to the Colts Matt Conti, Warren passed former local standout Ken Dilger for the most rookie touchdown receptions in franchise history and now only trails the legendary John Mackey, who had 7 touchdown in his pro debut back in 1963.
- Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin led the defense with 13 total tackles (5 solo), and his teammate and fellow linebacker Germaine Pratt also had 9 tackles (5 solo).
- The Colts defense had just 2.0 sacks, as freshly elevated veteran defensive tackle Chris Wormley had one, while fellow defensive tackle Abe Adebawore had another respectively.
- Colts safety Cam Bynum picked off Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud early in the 2nd quarter which set up the acrobatic Alec Pierce touchdown reception.
- Otherwise, while the Colts defense played good enough to win (albeit not great), it’s a defensive unit that struggled getting off the field as the Texans were 6 of 13 in 3rd down efficiency. While time of possession doesn’t always provide meaningful context, Indianapolis lost the time of possession again, 34:58 to 25:02.
- Regarding special teams, Colts replacement kicker Michael Badgley missed another extra point, his third of the season during 17 total extra point attempts. It feels like Indy may need to hold kicker tryouts again early this week. His XP miss proved extra costly as the Colts needed a touchdown to win and couldn’t kick a field goal to simply tie at 20-20, if necessary, and try to extend regulation very late in the 4th quarter.
- Lastly, it would be remiss of me not to mention that the NFL’s officiating by Clay Martin and his crew was objectively poor. Colts head coach Shane Steichen was rightfully livid along the sidelines. There’s some give and take in every league game, but the non-delay of game penalty on C.J. Stroud, followed by a phantom Kenny Moore II defensive pass interference call, only to then see the Texans score a touchdown in the early 4th quarter instead of attempt a field goal kick changed the complexion of this game late (not to mention a potential missed extra point attempt that was controversially ruled as converted thereafter). It could very well change the AFC playoff race, particularly atop the AFC South as the 2025 season enters the final stretch run here. It simply has to be better, but then again, so do the Colts where officiating shouldn’t determine the final outcome of an otherwise close game. No one’s going to remember these officiating gaffes when the Colts could be potentially sitting on their couches or in Cabo in early January instead of playing meaningful playoff football games.
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