The Indianapolis Colts (4-5) put on a show for their home crowd in their first prime-time game in Lucas Oil Stadium in the Frank Reich era.
The first quarter looked like it this could be a close game after the New York Jets (2-6) marched down the field with ease to tie it up at 7-7. On that drive, Mike White got hurt and never returned to the game. Longtime journeyman, Josh Johnson took over for the rest of the game and just couldn’t keep up with the Colts’ offense.
Reich’s unit scored on their first four drives of the game and scored 28 points in the first half. The offensive line was dominating the trenches and the backfield took advantage of it. Carson Wentz played mistake-free football for the most part outside of some missed throws when he had an opportunity.
The balanced attack led to Indianapolis having 532 total yards and putting up 45 points in front of a national audience. What flipped the tune of this matchup was when the Colts had a 14-7 lead and New York took over on their third drive of the game. Darius Leonard did Darius Leonard things and he delivered another peanut punch to give him four forced fumbles this season.
Once the Colts got the 42-10 lead, it pretty much put it out of reach until the Jets scored a touchdown on three straight drives. The defense started to play too soft and allowed the game’s final score to appear closer than it appeared. But it was a little too close for comfort, especially for those bettors out there. There were some warts on the defense but overall it was a good performance by Reich and his team on Thursday night.
Here are my five takeaways from the win: