The NFL draft came and now the 2023 schedule for the Indianapolis Colts has arrived.
We are officially at the point where we can flip the page to the upcoming season and what is to come for the franchise. In a few months, the Shane Steichen era will begin, and of course the debut of the new franchise quarterback Anthony Richardson.
There is much time to pass until the excitement of the season opener so for now, let’s take a look at the games that we are the most excited about on Indy’s schedule:
1
Season/Home Opener
The season opener is bittersweet for the Colts. There is the always electric feel to the opening weekend for the NFL but for Indianapolis, it hasn’t ended well since 2013. They haven’t won nine straight opening games, but their losing streak came to an end in a tie last season with the Houston Texans to kick off the 2022 season.
Outside of it being the opener, this will be the official head coaching debut for Shane Steichen and most likely, the first-round pick, Anthony Richardson. Indy will be facing the AFC South champs in the Jacksonville Jaguars so there is the potential sneak preview of future divisional battles between Trevor Lawrence and Richardson if he does end up getting named the starter.
One last note on this game is if for whatever reason Richardson doesn’t start in the opener, there is the storyline as this being a revenge game for Gardner Minshew.
2
Week 2 at Houston Texans
The excitement for this matchup is with the understanding that Anthony Richardson will be the Colts starting quarterback so we will get to see him go against his fellow draft classmate in C.J. Stroud. Just like seeing Richardson against Trevor Lawrence, this game can give an outlook on how these two divisional rivals will battle over the years.
This will also be the second straight season that Indianapolis will open up the season against the Jags and Texans. While there is no pressure on this team to win this season, it would be ideal to avoid going 0-2 while dropping two games in the AFC South to kick off 2023.
3
Week 6 at Jacksonville Jaguars
Duval County. The place of nightmares for the Colts. Indianapolis hasn’t won in Jacksonville since 2014 and last year’s loss was about as bad as it can get in a 24-0 shutout. Not only this is the second matchup with the Jaguars, but Indy will also have four divisional games in the first six weeks of the season. If Indy wants to shock the world in 2023 then they will have to handle business in the AFC South in the first quarter of the schedule.
4
Week 9 at Carolina Panthers
The one game on the schedule that will have a lot of buzz entering it despite what both teams’ records are is between the Colts and Panthers. It’s the Frank Reich revenge game and it happens to fall two days from the one-year anniversary of when he was let go by Indianapolis. While there hasn’t been any public animosity between Reich and his former team, the tension will be high for the former Indy head coach.
That isn’t the only storyline for this matchup. I would expect that Anthony Richardson will be the starter by this point of the season so we get to see him face off against the No. 1 pick of the NFL draft Bryce Young. This is just the second game that we will get to see a couple of quarterbacks from the 2023 class go at it.
5
Week 10 at New England Patriots in Germany
The NFL is heading back to Germany for the second year in a row and the Colts are part of the crew to show off the league in front of an international audience against the Patriots. The game will take place in Frankfurt and has a 9:30 a.m. ET kickoff time to begin the Sunday matchups in Week 10.
With Indianapolis having no official primetime games on the 2023 schedule, this will be the only standalone game that will be seen by a national audience this season. If there is a player on the roster that is more excited about this game than anyone is Bernhard Raimann.
The second-year left tackle is from Austria and outside of his father, who traveled to Washington last season to see him play, his family hasn’t seen him play as a wideout for the Vienna Vikings. When the news was announced, he reached out to his family. “I actually texted them this morning before coming into the facility,’’ Raimann said Wednesday afternoon. “They’re all excited.’’
6
Week 13 at Tennessee Titans
This will be the second matchup between the Colts and Titans but it’s listed here because there is the slight potential that Will Levis will be the starting quarterback for Tennessee. Ryan Tannehill is expected to start the season as the starter but if an injury were to occur or if they are out of playoff contention by that point of the year then they could see what they have in their second-round pick.
If this game does indeed feature Anthony Richardson against Levis then this has more juice to it than the earlier games versus C.J. Stroud and Bryce Young. The Colts passed on Levis in favor of Richardson and after the draft, Jim Irsay told the media that they would’ve selected Levis if another team picked Richardson.
There is gonna be a chip on Levis’ shoulder anytime he gets to face Indy throughout his career. Outside of the two 2023 quarterbacks facing each other, the Colts have lost five straight games to the Titans. If they fail to beat their divisional rival earlier in the season then it would be six straight losses heading into this game.
7
Week 15 vs Pittsburgh Steelers
The Colts have zero prime-time games but there is one game that has the potential to be flexed into a national game versus the Steelers. The scheduled date and time are listed as TBD because it is one of five games that could be played on a Saturday during Week 15.
If this game has important playoff implications then this could be the first game that Indianapolis gets flexed into a primetime spot. Besides the possible outcome of having a national featured game, this is also another opportunity this season for a bad streak to come to an end.
The Colts have lost eight straight games to the Steelers and the last win came back in 2008.
