overlook "all chips in."
neglect the quarterback they scapegoated to Washington, satisfied the complications would observe him out east. (They had been incorrect.) neglect the swings they took in the offseason, bound they'd do the trick. (incorrect, once again). overlook the perception within the building that the start of this year become going to be diverse, that it had to be, because they'd realized from the "scar" that become ultimate season's epic cave in and that they have been going to be more advantageous for it.
overlook the hype. overlook the chatter. overlook what we notion about the Indianapolis Colts, and believe what we comprehend in regards to the Indianapolis Colts, 0-1-1 after a different humiliating defeat in Jacksonville, 24-0, this group's eighth straight highway loss to the lowly Jaguars, which appears utterly unthinkable for every NFL crew save for one.
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presently, the Colts are a poorly constructed and poorly coached soccer group, with an aging quarterback and a bad left handle, a one-man receiving corps, an overpaid and underachieving offensive line and a lifeless defense that's grossly lacking an identification whereas its most fulfilling player is sidelined.
Two games in, the Colts — a well-liked opt for to win the AFC South — have performed like one of the vital worst teams in soccer, outschemed and largely outplayed in consecutive weeks via a pair of opponents, the Texans and Jaguars, that the majority determine will conclude at or close the bottom of the league.
consider: The Colts have entered the fourth quarter of those two video games trailing through a mixed rating of forty four-3.
believe: The Jaguars have gained simply 15 home video games seeing that 2018. five of these wins have come in opposition t the Colts.
trust: Indianapolis has been shut out just three times because 2003, a span of 306 regular-season video games. All three shutouts have come in opposition t Jacksonville, the fourth-worst team in the league over that stretch.
The Colts' flaws were attacked and uncovered. This group hasn't been organized. It hasn't accomplished.
now and then, it hasn't even competed.
"We obtained our ass beat," fumed center Ryan Kelly.
"I'm announcing from correct to backside," delivered protecting lineman DeForest Buckner, "all and sundry has acquired to seem themselves in the replicate and determine it out."
For the entire speak of practise, of the sense of urgency permeating the building closing week, the Colts gave the look of a crew that hadn't touched a soccer in seven days. They gave the look of they didn't have a clue what they were doing.
They appeared … lots like they did in January once they misplaced to this same crew on this same container in this same, embarrassing fashion. coach Frank Reich got here to call that afternoon "a scar," whatever thing he wouldn't remove even though he could. He wanted those classes to stay with him, to make himself and his crew improved. He opened his first team assembly in the spring with those phrases.
Sunday showed us nothing's modified.
With a whole lot to play for — the embarrassing dropping streak in Jacksonville, a divisional highway online game — the Colts seemed uninspired Sunday, even unmotivated.
Reich disagreed after the loss.
"one of the most things I referred to to the blokes in there, and it doesn't make any one believe any more suitable, but I consider I've been round lengthy sufficient to understand that as pathetic as that turned into nowadays, the place this is and the place we need to be, the distance is not that a long way," the coach talked about. "It's not that a long way because we've got the blokes, the gamers and coaches to do it.
"i do know that doesn't play within the outdoor world, and that i'm best with that. We'll take our medicine. I'll take my drugs, and we'll simply keep doing what we do."
It starts with Reich, actually, but doesn't conclusion there. The Colts' fifth-yr head instruct put his team via two actual practices Wednesday and Thursday — Reich in fact observed the Colts' intensity became at "an all-time high" — then did some thing he's under no circumstances achieved: reduce Friday's observe. The Colts staged just a walk-through, the hope being the added rest would support them ready for the Florida warmth.
Nope.
Didn't work.
There should be a correlation, then, as a result of their performance Sunday felt like an all-time low.
"We'll get stronger and choose ourselves up off the mat," Reich vowed. "It's early within the season. definitely, a really bad showing in every approach. We've got to be trained from it and movement on."
This changed into as abysmal an offensive performance the Colts have had below Reich. simply nine first downs. Two-for-10 on third down. Three interceptions from quarterback Matt Ryan. It changed into grotesque, all of it, and everybody has their palms dirty.
The play calling's been poor, the execution worse. The Colts have probably the most dynamic weapons in the league in their backfield in Jonathan Taylor, and two weeks in, it hasn't looked as if it would count number.
Don't expect any moves from owner Jim Irsay, who turned into absolutely irate after Sunday's game, however don't feel Reich's seat isn't getting warmer. The anger Irsay carried with him into the offseason after January's unthinkable collapse hasn't left his intellect. If the Colts hold taking part in like this, Irsay will should make a decision at season's conclusion. (In his 25 years as crew owner, he's not ever fired a coach midseason.)
Don't absolve the everyday supervisor, both. Chris Ballard's choices in the spring and summer have charge his team in a big means. "We like our group," Ballard provided just two weeks ago, pressed on the Colts' skinny receiving core behind Michael Pittman Jr. We witnessed Sunday what this group seems like with out its megastar: among the many worst receiving corps in the league.
"We need to add some greater weapons," Ballard mentioned in the spring, earlier than he chose not to add greater weapons in free company, as an alternative drafting a wideout within the 2d round (Alec Pierce) who dropped a vital touchdown remaining Sunday in Houston then overlooked the online game in Jacksonville with a concussion.
The receiver subject become dissected and debated all spring. Colts brass turned into asked about it, repeatedly, and each time leaned on a well-known refrain: They preferred what they had. They were inclined to roll the dice. That they selected now not to convey again T.Y. Hilton for an 11th season, figuring the younger weapons in the back of Pittman would take a step ahead, feels like an egregious oversight.
"I'm hoping that there's one man in that neighborhood that no one is thinking goes to be a man and that they become a legit guy," Reich spoke of in April.
retailer Pittman, they don't have any legit guys. not yet. And when your quarterback's 37 years historic and your tight conclusion neighborhood is a liability and your left address can't dangle up in opposition t velocity on the facet, well, you're 0-1-1 with the meat of your time table nonetheless on deck.
speakme of the offensive line, that unit is not any longer elite and hasn't been in two strong years. a group that grew to become the backbone of this crew in 2018 and remained stellar via 2020 has regressed considerably. Ballard's line is eating up $forty two.2 million of the group's salary cap space this season — most in the league — whereas permitting seven sacks and 18 hits on Ryan in barely two games.
The Colts figured Matt Pryor would be enough at left address. He hasn't been.
On defense, Ballard traded for a flow rusher, Yannick Ngakoue, who's making $13 million this season and has no sacks in two games. truly, the Colts didn't sniff Jags QB Trevor Lawrence on Sunday, affording him satisfactory time in the pocket to carve them up for a 2d straight video game.
Lawrence's ultimate two outings versus the Colts: 48-for-sixty two (77 %), 458 yards, four touchdowns, no picks and a 116.6 score.
His profession score in opposition t every different crew: seventy one.2.
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retailer a late-game rally in Houston, coordinator Gus Bradley's defensive unit has been extraordinarily underwhelming. And Patrick Mahomes, Russell Wilson and Justin Herbert are still on the schedule.
Nothing the Colts say this week concerns. No tarmac video clips from owner Irsay, in entrance of his private airplane, will make a change. The decisions they've made over the past a couple of months have charge them dearly, and there are issues on this roster that may't be fixed midseason.
here's the bed they've made themselves, and that they're going to need to lie in it for four lengthy months.
"I've bought my ass kicked before, i know that a great deal," Ryan observed. "It's all about the way you reply. You get up off the ground. It occurs during this league."
It's been occurring to the Colts a great deal lately, and they've yet to get off the floor. unhealthy as they've been, it's just two games, however the considerations are warranted. The Colts had eight lengthy months to be taught from all that went incorrect and proper it. They crumbled at the end of ultimate season, losing two straight with a playoff berth on the road, then vowed it wouldn't — it couldn't — happen once more.
The issue with that?
They opened this 12 months searching just like the accurate identical crew.
(good photograph: Douglas DeFelice / united states of america nowadays)
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