For the ninth straight season, the Colts have left their road matchup against the Jaguars with a loss and this loss was very consistent with how the previous matchups have turned out. They have been uncompetitive and showcase the offense struggling to get anything going down the field and on the ground.
While the Colts were favored to lose this game, the thought was still that Shane Steichen and this new-look offense would at least get things moving on the ground and open things up for Gardner Minshew down the field. Alas, none of those things happened and the game got out of hand very quickly and the Colts fell 20-37. It is safe to say that for anyone who thought Minshew was a better answer at QB than Anthony Richardson, they had a very rude wake-up call this weekend.
However, with reports stating that Richardson is “likely” and “strongly considering” surgery, it could be Gardner Minshew at the helm for the rest of the season. So, what happened this Sunday and why could the offense not move the football down the field? There are four likely facets that contributed to the offensive woes.
Gardner Minshew was Wildly Inaccurate Throwing Down the Field
The success and failure of an offense largely fall on the shoulders of the quarterback. Although playcalling can certainly have a hand in this, it was the inaccuracy in Minshew throwing down the field that led to a lot of failures. On passes down the field, Minshew had an abysmal day of 3/12 with 3 INTs and two of those completions coming towards the end of the game when things had already been decided.
It should be noted that Minshew had 3 interceptions on the day which is the most he has ever had in a single game and all three of those INTs were throwing down the field and it wasn’t even close. On all three, they were poorly thrown balls which for a veteran like Minshew, there are no excuses.
Now, every quarterback has bad days, but this day was a time in which Minshew was going up against his former team; the team that drafted him and the city that embraced him for two years. This game was one in which Minshew could’ve solidified his name as a reliable quarterback going forward for a team who just lost their starter for 4-6 weeks. This game was one that the Colts had a real shot to win.
Gardner Minshew is not Consistent Against Pressure
This is a fairly known limitation to Minshew’s playing ability as he has never been very good against blitzes and pressure. Typically, if his first read is taken away and the check-down is gone, Minshew gets happy feet in the pocket and struggles to make quick and good decisions. This inconsistency went hand-in-hand with his struggles to throw the ball down the field on Sunday because in order to get those long completions, the QB has to stand in the pocket and be patient and committed to his receivers.
Going into Sunday, Player Profile had Minshew at a 30% completion rate on deep passes (#26), and 56% on passes under pressure (#20). Both of those stats will dwindle in productivity after Sunday, but it should be noted that the recipe to keep any quarterback from being successful is pressure, taking away anything down field, and forcing the offense into obvious passing downs. The Jaguars defense did just that on Sunday and the Colts did not have any answers.
The Running Game was Non-Existent
Aside from the offensive line, the running game is one of the crucial aspects to the success of an offense as it keeps the team from being one-dimensional, it allows defenses to rest and opposing offenses to stay on the sideline, and it can be the difference maker in play-calling. The Colts had absolutely no running attack to speak of even with Jonathan Taylor and Zack Moss in the backfield. Unfortunately, the Colts couldn’t even commit to the run because they were playing from multiple scores down so early in the game.
After getting their second possession down 7-3, Gardner Minshew fumbled in his own end of the field and gave Jacksonville the opportunity to go right down the field and score to make it a 14-3 game. At that point, it was apparent that Steichen wanted chunk plays, and any commitment to the run was essentially nullified.
Throughout the remainder of the game after the first of four turnovers, the Colts ran the football either to keep the defense honest or to try and establish some positive yards which was very scarce. The Colts finished the day with 17 rushing attempts for only 44 yards (2.6 average). Zack Moss would finish the day with 7 rushes for 21 yards, 1 TD and Jonathan Taylor finished with 8 rushes for only 19 yards. Similar to their week 1 performance against the Jaguars, the Colts could not run the football and for a team with the offensive philosophy of Shane Steichen, running is crucial to success.
When the Colts running backs have less than 80 total yards on the ground, they are 0-3.
Losing the Turnover Battle
The Colts finished the day -3 on turnovers. They forced 1 turnover on a Trevor Lawrence interception but created 4 turnovers of their own all at the hands of QB Gardner Minshew (3 INTs and 1 fumble). For any team and especially a young team like the Colts, it is very difficult to be successful and win games when you lose the turnover battle. The Colts defense got off to a slow start, but it can be argued that was in large part due to the reckless turnovers that continually put the defense in bad spots. Of those 4 turnovers, the Jaguars capitalized and created 17 points which was the difference in this game.
The Final Down
We’ve seen what Indy can do when the running game is clicking, play-action and RPO is working, and the turnovers are down – the Colts win games. A day like today and we see the results of all of that being a non-factor. The Colts will have a full practice week to look at the film, get back to the drawing board, and fix what went wrong. But the Colts play the Browns next week and they are not going to be an easy team to beat.
The Lucky Colt 
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