The Lucky Colt

Welcome to The Lucky Colt

In the 2009 NFL season, I had the opportunity to follow the Indianapolis Colts from game one until their devastating Super Bowl loss to the New Orleans Saints. From that defeat, I have been locked in on the Colts and have followed them through the offseason, regular season, and postseason. I love the Indianapolis Colts and my goal is to provide in depth analysis on games, offseason moves, and share my perspective on the team every year.

Week 13 Recap – The Colts Sweep the Titans for the First Time Since 2018

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The last time Andrew Luck suited up for regular season games in 2018, the Colts swept the Tennessee Titans and had a 4-game winning streak in the process. Fast forward to 2023 and the Colts have accomplished those feats again, but with a completely different team. Since 4th overall draft pick, Anthony Richardson, went down with a season-ending shoulder injury in week 5 (against the Titans), the season seemed like a loss knowing that a backup QB would have to pave the way. Luckily, the Colts have a mastermind of a head coach in Shane Steichen and a quarterback in Gardner Minshew who is as tough and poised as they come.

Overall, the offensive performance for Indy was a bit lackluster on Sunday, but it was the defense and the special teams that really stepped up and propelled the team to victory. Now sitting at 7-5, the Colts are in complete control of their playoff destiny and they currently sit in the final wild-card spot. However, getting to the playoffs is never easy, especially in the AFC and for the Colts, they did a lot of things right today, but a lot of things wrong. We’ll look at both.

What Went Right – Getting Alec Pierce Involved Down Field

Since the beginning of the season, eyes were locked on WR Alec Pierce to have a breakout year two. Up until Sunday, Pierce was having an extremely slow start, almost to the point of being a bust and it made Colts fans uneasy. We’ve seen the talent that Pierce has on the outside and his ability to get open, but the targets just didn’t seem to happen and he rarely got involved in the offense.

All of that changed on Sunday as Pierce has only 3 catches but for 100 yards and 1 TD. (Two of those catches were for 35+ yards). This is the explosive capability that Pierce is capable of and it was great to see him finally have his moment. Now, the question is – Will the Colts continue to feed him down the field?

Colts end up taking a shot of first down and capitalize on the speed of Alec Pierce and a perfectly placed ball by Gardner Minshew
Similar to the first quarter TD, Minshew delivers a perfect ball to Alec Pierce who just ran by the defenders. His ability to get open down the field is a weapon the Colts must utilize moving forward.

What Went Wrong – Ugly Turnovers and Missed Opportunities

A big story with this Colts offense has been the turnovers and missed opportunities on both sides of the ball. On Sunday, that trend continued as the Colts would finish the box score tied with Tennessee in turnovers, but in reality, the Colts lost the turnover battle.

There were two turnovers in particular, both at the hands of Minshew, that almost cost this game.

This was the first Colts turnover. Minshew tries to maneuver in the pocket and because he is still looking to throw, the ball is just dangling in his hands. This creates an easy forced fumble for the Titans and takes 3 points off the board for Indy.
This next play is not considered a turnover, but just a failed 2-point try. The huge issue with this opportunity is what ensued. After the Colts just scored on TD on a blocked field goal (which we’ll get to in a moment), Shane Steichen makes the correct decision to go for 2, making it a 7-point lead. Unfortunately, Minshew does not understand how shovel passes work and ends up throwing high to Moss with defenders all around. When you run a shovel pass play and end up throwing high, turnovers will happen.

The big issue with this failed 2-point attempt was the fact that it ended up being 2 points for the Titans. Again, missed opportunities resulted in, in this case, points put on the board for the opposing team.

What Went Wrong – The Lack of a Running Attack

Jonathan Taylor was out Sunday due to a thumb injury he suffered last week against the Buccaneers, so it was the Zack Moss show against the Titans and unfortunately, he struggled to produce. Moss would finish the day with 19 carries for 51 yards (2.7 average) and the Colts as a whole would finish the day with just 55 yards rushing.

Even though Indy still got the win, the recipe for their offensive success is running the football and against a strong Tennessee Titans front seven, it was just difficult to get anything going. If the Colts want to continue their push toward the playoffs, they will have to shore up the running game, and with Jonathan Taylor out 3-5 weeks, the urgency is all the more intense.

Now, the track record that Moss has this season will suggest that the Colts will be just fine moving forward with the run. He still has over 700 yards rushing and a 4.5 average, so while this game was a big disappointment, it’s safe to say that this type of production is an anomaly. It is not good for Indy to get in situations where Minshew is throwing 40+ times in a game.

What Went Right – Special Teams was Spectacular

Brian Mason is the Colts special teams coordinator and serving in this role for the first time with Indy. On Sunday, the special teams was on lockdown, contributing 19 points for the offense.

K Matt Gay finished the day 4/4 on FG attempts, one of which was from 46 yards (contributing 12 points). But the main event was the 2 blocked punts (though one is officially ruled as a fumble).

This one looks like an all out pressure from Indy that ends up getting home. Unfortunately for the Titans, they were not in a position to protect. This block would end in a touchdown.
This next block (officially ruled a fumble) was actually a designed rush as CB Tony Brown times it perfectly, sneaks down from his corner position, and goes unblocked to the punter. The Colts would end up capitalizing by getting a field goal out of this.

Sad day the for the Titans punter – Titans punter Ryan Stonehouse did end up getting a nasty leg injury on the play which will probably sideline him for the rest of the season.

All around, a spectacular performance for the Colts special teams all around. Let’s also not forget that Rigoberto Sanchez had a very solid day punting. He would finish the day with 5 punts, a 51.2 average, and 57 long.

The Final Down

The performance the Colts had on Sunday was not the kind of sustained performance that can generate multiple wins. The offense was way too inconsistent – the running game was horrible and they struggled to convert third downs (3-14). The defense held up well, generating 6 sacks and forcing 2 fumbles (both being recovered by Tennessee), but there seemed to be an issue with outside contain in the running game. The Titans would finish with 177 yards rushing on 42 attempts. Even though the Colts knew they were going to run, they still were inconsistent stopping it.

If Indy wants to stay in the playoff picture and better yet, make the playoffs, they will have to shore up this offense to be more consistent and it starts with running the football. The defense also has to be more consistent with stopping the run and hopefully when Grover Stewart comes back from suspension, they get some of those holes filled. (Grover Stewart is eligible to return to the active roster on December 4th).

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