The Indianapolis Colts’ unfortunate road losing streak to the Jacksonville Jaguars was extended to 10 games on Sunday, following last second loss.
A late charge sparked by Alec Pierce and the Colts passing game helped them overcome a 14 point deficit, but ultimately, and as was the case for much of the second half, the defense couldn’t come up with a final stop.
With the game behind us, let’s go down-by-down and take a look back at the key aspects of this matchup.
First down: Too little too late for the passing game
Down 20-34, the Colts made a valiant effort to tie the game up with three big pass plays to Alec Pierce providing the spark. Pierce had a 24 yard reception followed by a 46 yard reception that put the Colts at the one-yard line and resulted in a touchdown. Then on the next possession he had a 65 yard touchdown. In total, that’s three receptions for 134 yards.
However, playing from behind put the game in the hands of the Colts defense, which had struggled all game to stop Jacksonville and they couldn’t do so on that final possession. While the defense will take the brunt for this loss, one question I do have is why did it take so long to get Pierce involved downfield?
After the game Shane Steichen said that the Jaguars were playing a lot of cover-2 which can make pushing the ball downfield difficult. With that said, cover-2 is played steadily across the NFL and this was a Jaguars defense allowing 7.7 yards per pass attempt coming into Sunday’s game–the third-highest mark in football.
If we take the 134 yards off of Flacco’s 359 total passing yards, he averaged just 5.4 yards per pass attempt on his other 41 throws. The Colts approach for much of the game was on the conservative side, and it led to long stretches without points.
Second down: Pass rush can’t get home
The Colts were without DeForest Buckner, Kwity Paye, and Tyquan Lewis up front, and the pass rush suffered mightily. According to PFF, Trevor Lawrence was pressured only one time–once–on 34 dropbacks. That’s it.
In addition to the Colts not winning their matchups, the Jaguars also game-planned around that unit, using play-action, screens, and quick passes to mitigate the impact of that unit. For a defense that is built to win up front, if that doesn’t happen, it’s going to be a tough day.
Third down: The pass defense is picked apart
With the pass rush not able to get home, Lawrence had all the time he needed in the pocket and picked apart this Colts’ secondary. Lawrence finished the day completing 28-of-34 passes for 371 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.
With the help of pass plays of 85 yards and 61 yards, Lawrence would average 10.9 yards per pass, which for context, 8.8 yards per pass attempt from Brock Purdy is currently leading the NFL through five games.
If an offense is going to have that kind of success through the air, a lot has to go right elsewhere in order to win.
Fourth down: Depth is being tested
Injuries have been an unfortunate part of the season for the Colts and the team suffered another blow on Sunday with right guard Will Fries exiting the game with a lower leg injury that required surgery.
In addition to not having Fries for a portion of Sunday’s game, the Colts were also without Kenny Moore, Kwity Paye, Tyquan Lewis, DeForest Buckner, Ryan Kelly, Jonathan Taylor, and Anthony Richardson, along with Samson Ebukam and JuJu Brents also on IR.
That’s a lot of really good football players that the Colts were without on Sunday.