What a whirlwind of a week has it been for the Indianapolis Colts.
Buy Colts TicketsAfter surprising the NFL world by firing Frank Reich and hiring Jeff Saturday, the Colts went on the road to Las Vegas to win a 25-20 game over the Raiders.
It’s just one game, but it appears that the new offensive coordinator, Parks Frazier may have the magic touch for the offense. The unit exploded for 415 total yards, which averaged 7.0 yards per play. It was the return of two players that sparked that effort.
Jonathan Taylor looked like himself for the first time in a long time. But the most notable return was Matt Ryan. Just before the game started that it was known he was back in the starting lineup. He ended up leading his fourth fourth-quarter comeback this season for the Colts.
It was an up-and-down day for the Indianapolis defense. They were great in spurts but the lack of pass rush led to Derek Carr picking them apart throughout the afternoon. But in the end, they held off the Raiders’ comeback attempt with a Stephon Gilmore pass deflection.
On a fourth and six from the IND 16-yard line, Carr went to Davante Adams but the veteran corner had sticky coverage and closed out the window to break it up. Jeff Saturday ends up getting a win in his coaching debut despite all the uproar over him getting the gig.
Here are my five takeaways from the game:
1
Welcome back, Matt Ryan
It was just a few weeks ago that it looked like Matt Ryan’s career was coming to an end after getting benched for Sam Ehlinger. Earlier this week that Jim Irsay stated that Jeff Saturday can play whoever he wanted at quarterback. A couple of days later, Ryan returned to practice for the first time since he suffered his shoulder injury.
It was up until the pre-game that word started to spread that Matt Ryan was going to make his return. Not even the Ian Rapoports and Adam Schefters of the NFL world had this information this morning. The Colts had their typical poor first drive but after that, the passing attack started to find a rhythm.
Ryan helped lead the offense to get inside the five-yard line and he capped the drive with a QB sneak for the touchdown. That would lead to five straight drives where the offense was able to cross midfield. Two of those ended in a fumble and a missed field goal.
The veteran quarterback did a great job at moving the sticks and most importantly, protecting the football. It was his game-winning drive where he made a couple of huge plays for his team. On third and three, Ryan showed off that he had some legs when he scampered for 39 yards.
Matt Ryan 39-yard run? Matt Ryan 39-yard run! @M_Ryan02
📺: #INDvsLV on CBS
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/BOnQEreYOl pic.twitter.com/6CY1XbufRW— NFL (@NFL) November 13, 2022
Then two plays later he threw a strick to Parris Campbell for a 35-yard touchdown.
Matt Ryan with a strike to Parris Campbell to give the #Colts the lead!!!pic.twitter.com/EKxXhZDLqX
— Cody Manning (@CodyTalksNFL) November 13, 2022
Ryan secured his starting spot back today. He finished going 21/28 for 222 yards and a touchdown. Plus, his 38 rushing yards and a score on the ground. The veteran quarterback will have an opportunity to go down swinging in the back end of his career.
2
Hello, Jonathan Taylor!!!
After battling with an ankle injury it appears that Jonathan Taylor is himself again. The star back was a catalyst for the offense against a Raiders defense that couldn’t bottle him up. He was constantly creating positive plays to help put them in a favorable position on third downs. Taylor averaged 6.7 YPC on 22 carries but it was his 66-yard touchdown run that showed he was all the way back.
Jonathan Taylor is back! 153 total yards and a touchdown in three quarters for the #Colts!!!pic.twitter.com/NuYlG0GroT
— Cody Manning (@CodyTalksNFL) November 13, 2022
His fantasy football managers should be rejoicing with the playoffs around the corner. Taylor ended his day with 163 total yards and a touchdown. The Colts are going to need more of this if they want to go a late-season run.
3
The lack of pass rush was concerning
It was a strong start for the Colts’ defense but by forcing three straight three-and-outs and forcing a turnover on downs on the Raiders’ first four drives. The next two drives were a different story. Derek Carr would go on to dice up the secondary but it was the lack of pass rush that helped that.
Carr had all the time he wanted to find the open man to keep the chains moving which led to two straight touchdown drives between the end of the second quarter and their first drive of the second half. On a third and 10 in the fourth quarter, Indianapolis couldn’t get to Carr and he was able to step up in the pocket to deliver it to Davante Adams for the 48-yard touchdown for the lead.
You just love to see it @tae15adams‼️🥲
📺: CBS pic.twitter.com/WpC5ih7Jtt
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) November 13, 2022
Carr ended the game going 24/38 for 248 yards and two touchdowns. The Colts defense was only able to sack him twice and finished with five QB hits. It should be noted that Kwity Paye ended up getting ruled out with an ankle injury coming out of halftime.
The lack of pressure on Carr almost bit them in the end but a couple of plays in coverage by Bobby Okereke and Stephon Gilmore saved the day for Indianapolis.
4
Excellent debut for Parks Frazier
There were low expectations for the Colts’ offense entering Sunday. They are coming off a game where they were 0/14 on third downs and looked very uninspiring. When Frank Reich got let go, that led to the major question of who was going to run the offense. Parks Frazier got the gig despite no play-calling experience and delivered on his first opportunity.
Indianapolis had a total of 415 yards and scored over 20 points for the first time since their win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. It was a balanced attack with 28 passing attempts and 30 rushing attempts. 10 of their 20 first downs were passing plays and eight were on the ground. Two were from penalties.
Frazier’s play-calling to end the first half was great. The Colts got the ball back with 58 seconds and two timeouts. He used a nice mixture of the run and pass to help get the field goal to close out the second quarter.
Indianapolis did a solid job at sustaining drives. They went 6/11 on third downs after getting blanketed last week. It was a good start for the young play caller and we will see if Frazier can build upon it with a tougher test in the Philadelphia Eagles next week.
5
Jeff Saturday's first career win
Everything was set up for it to be an expected disappointing start for Jeff Saturday. The Colts were playing terrible football on offense. Of course, there was a lack of coaching experience for the new leader of the team. Even though there was a lot of uproar amongst the media and within the league.
Saturday was able to guide Indianapolis to victory despite the outside noise. I thought when they would flash to him on the sidelines he had a calm demeanor but would get fired up when the moment called for it. He looked like he was in constant communication with his coaching staff.
I don’t believe Saturday was hands-on with the offensive line but that part of the offense came to play for the former offensive lineman. They only gave up one sack and one QB hit. It was also their effort in the ground game that paid dividends.
The Colts averaged 6.9 YPC and the Raiders only got two TFLs. The players seemed to be bought in what Saturday is presenting. Earlier this week they stated about his good first team meeting and it looked like they were happy for him in the locker room following the game.
Any given Saturday. pic.twitter.com/W9Y3uhXWSW
— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) November 14, 2022
He was right in his post-game speech. This was a team effort for the Colts to pull off this win. It’s just a one-game sample size but Saturday couldn’t have asked for a better start.
