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The Colts’ season ended a year ago against the Jaguars. Publicly, the team survived a brunt of the criticism by positing themselves as a fleeced buyer of Carson Wentz Inc. They were not shy about perpetuating that narrative as they entered their bunker to find another veteran rental quarterback. Privately, head coach Frank Reich spent the team’s final day in the facility asking coaches and players what he could do better personally to ensure something like this never happened again, perhaps aware that it was more than just his quarterback’s problem.
If we thought the pivot to Matt Ryan was a panacea, we are two games into a rude awakening in Indianapolis, where the Colts were throttled by the Jaguars in a game lowlighted by three Ryan interceptions. For the second consecutive week, a Colts team we universally believed to be a deep playoff contender at worst, has underperformed against one of the worst teams in their division. As the fourth quarter began on Sunday, the Colts had fewer than 150 total yards and just six first downs. In a three-drive span during the first quarter, the Colts netted a single yard of offense. On one of their few legitimate whifs at the end zone, Ryan was whipped to the ground on third down, and forced to wander outside the pocket on fourth down, lofting a pass that was hopelessly batted down at the back line of the end zone.
