The stage is set for the Indianapolis Colts (3-5) and New York Jets (2-5) to battle it out in prime time on Thursday night at Lucas Oil Stadium.
As both teams look to turn around on a short week, the injury designations have been released and the Colts will be heavy favorites at home despite having a slightly better record.
Watch Thursday Night Football on Amazon with a Prime Membership. Viewers can watch this week’s game with an Amazon Fire TV Product. Get yours now!
Even without rookie quarterback Zach Wilson, who was ruled out due to a knee sprain, the Colts aren’t taking the Jets lightly in this matchup. Coming off of a big upset win with Mike White making his first career start means the Colts have their research to conduct.
“No doubt. I mean you do the research, you watch this game – this last game particularly hard. I mean the guy had an unbelievable game,” said Frank Reich on Tuesday. “…continue to find ways to get better against a team that is going to come in here – a team that has been playing very good on defense. Now all of a sudden they have some momentum offensively, a little bit of mojo offensively. So we know this will be a good challenge for us.”
The Jets only have two wins on the season but those wins have been huge. They upset the Tennessee Titans in Week 4 with a 27-24 win in overtime at MetLife. That was the week after the Titans beat the Colts in Nashville.
Then the Jets took down the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 9 on the back of White’s performance and some clutch takeaways on the defensive side of the ball. They essentially shut down rookie phenom Ja’Marr Chase outside of a touchdown reception.
Even being massive favorites to open the week, the Colts know anyone can beat anyone in the NFL.
“I feel like in the NFL you can’t overlook any team,” said linebacker Darius Leonard. “Everybody has great athletes, everybody does a great job of game planning and like you said, they have wins against Tennessee and Cincinnati. So, we have to come in and make sure that we’re firing on all cylinders, make sure we’re locked in and understanding what they are trying to do offensively and making sure we can find a way to stop that.”
The Colts are already coming out of a loss against the Titans that puts them in a tough spot when it comes to their hopes of making the playoffs. They can’t afford to stroll into this prime-time game and lay an egg.
Though they are expected to win, the Colts should be coming into this game hungry to dominate as the second half of the season gets underway.
Like Colts Wire on Facebook
Follow Colts Wire on Twitter
Follow Kevin on Twitter (@KevinHickey11)
[lawrence-related id=65131,65128,65115]
[listicle id=65091]