It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
What seemed like a blowout victory for the Indianapolis Colts turned into an absolute nightmare comeback by the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday.
The Colts held a 33-0 lead coming out of halftime. In true 2022 Colts’ fashion, they found a way to blow the largest lead in NFL history, being outscored 36-3 during the second half. In overtime, the Vikings pulled through with a game-winning field goal to complete a wild start to the weekend.
A game that truly was a tale of two halves, here are the studs and duds from the historic collapse:
STUD: DT DeForest Buckner
Few Colts have played with the consistency that Buckner has this season. He continued to be a menace in the middle of the defensive line throughout the entire game. Even when the defense was clearly gassed, Buckner still recorded one sack, three quarterback hits and two tackles for loss.
DUD: QB Matt Ryan
Just when Ryan thought he might be escaping the “28-3” memes, he finds himself on the wrong end of another historic collapse. The Colts don’t really have a better option, but Ryan just does nothing for the offense. He completed 19-of-33 (57.6%) pass attempts for 182 yards for one touchdown and an 83.1 passer rating. The advantage we thought he’d bring in pre-snap recognition is nowhere to be found, and his pocket presence is nearly evaporating before our eyes.
STUD: DL Dayo Odeyingbo
Quietly, Odeyingbo has been stringing together some solid games over the course of the last month. He and Buckner were constantly in the backfield Saturday, and Odeyingbo led the way with two sacks. He added two quarterback hits and a tackle for loss while getting consistent pressure on Kirk Cousins.
DUD: HC Jeff Saturday
You can’t not have the head coach be a dud when his team is on the wrong end of the largest blown lead in NFL history. Saturday had two weeks to prepare his squad for this game and while the first half was great from a defensive and special teams standpoint, the offense continues to struggle. They are an abysmal group in the red zone and on third downs while they averaged 4.3 yards per play on the day. The team had a season-high 36 points, but the offense was only directly responsible for seven of those points. The Colts also committed 11 penalties, which is a disciple issues that follows squarely on the shoulders of the head coach.
STUD: K Chase McLaughlin
McLaughlin has been a stud for the entirety of his time with the Colts this season. He made all five of his field-goal attempts and all three of his extra-point attempts. He converted his eighth attempt of the season over 50 yards, which broke the single-season franchise record previously held by Adam Vinatieri. Some of his production stems from the abysmal offense failing to score touchdowns, but he’s been a major weapon.
DUD: WR Alec Pierce
Sometimes, a wide receiver can only do so much when the quarterback and entire passing game is struggling. Even so, the rookie had four targets and didn’t come away with any receptions despite going up against one of the worst defenses against perimeter wide receivers. We may need some more context from the All-22 on who was more at fault, but this was an extremely disappointing result for Pierce on Saturday.
