The Indianapolis Colts (0-1) were defeated 27-20 by the Jacksonville Jaguars (1-0) on Sunday at TIAA Bank Field in what turned out to be a Week 1 upset in the AFC South.
The Colts have now lost their last seven opening week games. From a rock performance given by quarterback Philip Rivers to the defense being non-existent, it wasn’t an encouraging showing from the Colts.
>>>Studs and Duds in Week 1<<<
Here are five takeaways from the Week 1 loss:
Shaky start from Rivers
The Colts entered this game not wanting to put too much on the shoulders of their new quarterback. But when it came down to it, that’s exactly what they did. Rivers wound up attempting 46 passes while the Colts ran the ball 22 times. The split shouldn’t look like that, and that’s not how the Colts want to run their offense.
But even with the game on Rivers’ shoulders, he was shaky in his Colts debut. His line doesn’t look terrible. He completed 78.3% of his passes for 346 yards. But he threw just one touchdown pass while committing two interceptions. The offense was just 2-of-5 in the red zone and 4-of-12 on third downs.
Things will get better for Rivers, especially once the ground game gets going. But Sunday was pretty shaky from the 38-year-old and they weren’t able to overcome it despite playing the team projected for the No. 1 pick in 2021.