The Indianapolis Colts (3-5) lost their third straight game Sunday, falling 38-27 at home against the New Orleans Saints (4-4).
It was a close game for the first half before the Saints ran away with 17 points in the second half. The Colts allowed 511 total yards on defense, which was a season-high for Gus Bradley’s unit.
Here are the studs and duds from the Colts’ loss in Week 8:
STUD: Running Game
The Indianapolis Colts had an effective day running the football as they rushed for 164 yards on 24 carries.
Jonathan Taylor led the way with a season-high 95 rushing yards on 12 carries. Zack Moss added 66 yards on the ground on 11 carries and a touchdown.
With how effective the rushing attack was for Indianapolis, it is a bit puzzling that the Colts didn’t ride Taylor and Moss more down the stretch.
Regardless, another strong day for the duo.
DUD: CB Tony Brown
To be frank, this may have been one of the worst individual performances by an NFL cornerback I’ve ever seen.
Brown was beaten on multiple explosive plays and was routinely getting exposed anytime the Saints decided to throw the ball deep.
Indianapolis has a major issue at cornerback and must make a move to shore up a very leaky unit.
STUD: WR Josh Downs
Downs continues to shine in his rookie season with another strong game. He led the Colts with 72 receiving yards on seven receptions. Downs currently has 473 receiving yards and is on pace for 1,005 yards, the second most as a rookie in Indianapolis Colts’ history.
DUD: Defensive Line
I’ll say it, the Colts defensive line has been very underwhelming as of recently.
Outside of DeForest Buckner, no other defensive linemen registered a sack on Sunday and the unit recorded just two quarterback hits as a whole.
Derek Carr routinely had all day to throw and New Orleans was able to put up 134 yards rushing on the Colts defense.
Overall, the defense had a day to forget, but the defensive line has quite simply not been good enough when it matters recently.
