Tag: postgame takeaways

5 takeaways from Colts’ 23-19 loss to the Texans

Here are five takeaways from the Colts’ heartbreaking loss in Week 18.

The Indianapolis Colts’ 2023 season has officially ended after falling to their divisional rivals Houston Texans in a win and in game.

The Indy offense was led by Jonathan Taylor on the ground with the passing attack failing to find rhythm at any point in the contest. The defense had some moments but C.J. Stroud was the difference maker in this matchup. The rookie quarterback made some outstanding throws throughout the night.

It was because of him that the Texans were able to move the ball with ease on their three touchdown drives. This game did come down to the final minutes but a slightly questionable sequence by Shane Steichen led to Houston coming away with a victory.

On a fourth-and-one inside the red zone, he elected to try to draw the defense offsides and burned a timeout. Steichen did dial up a great play call but Gardner Minshew had poor ball placement to a wide-open Tyler Goodson and he dropped the ball.

It wasn’t a great throw but it was still a ball Goodson should have caught. It’s puzzling that JT or Zack Moss weren’t the back in that situation with the season on the line.

Because of the timeout, the Colts weren’t able to get the ball back with time to work with for one last comeback attempt. This is a brutal loss in this moment but the future is bright for Indianapolis.

Before looking ahead to the 2024 offseason, here are five takeaways from the game:

5 takeaways from Colts’ 23-20 win over Raiders

Here are five takeaways from the Colts’ big win over the Raiders.

The Indianapolis Colts (9-7) kept their playoff chances alive for Week 18 after beating the Las Vegas Raiders (7-9).

Despite the feeling the Colts had control of this game throughout all four quarters, they allowed the Raiders to be within an arm’s distance in a game that came down to the final minute. The offense got off to a great start with a touchdown on the opening drive but stalled with three straight punts until they scored their second touchdown of the game with 3:53 left in the second quarter.

Even though Indy was able to score on all three drives (excluding the kneel-down to end the game) in the second half, the inability to punch the ball in the end zone and settle for field goals allowed Las Vegas to hang in. The Colts defense was mostly a bend-but-don’t-break effort in this contest. The lack of pressure on Aidan O’Connell in the second half allowed him to play catch with his receivers.

He was able to guide them on a touchdown drive in the final two minutes to make it a 23-20 game, but the Raiders failed to recover the onside to help seal the victory for the Colts. This secures Shane Steichen a winning record in his first season with the franchise and sets up a playoff opportunity next week against the Houston Texans. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see that contest as one of the two Week 18 Saturday games.

Before taking a look at the regular-season finale, here are five takeaways from the Week 17 win:

5 takeaways from Colts’ 29-10 loss to the Falcons

Five takeaways from the Colts’ 29-10 loss to the Falcons.

The Indianapolis Colts aren’t having a jolly Christmas after falling to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.

It was a letdown performance from the Colts. After scoring a touchdown on the opening drive of the game, the offense failed to find any footing. The run game couldn’t find any room, Gardner Minshew was under pressure often, and the passing attack clearly missed Michael Pittman Jr. in this matchup. As far as the defense, it was an up-and-down day.

They let up two long touchdown drives but held Atlanta’s offense to 5/13 on third downs and 0/3 on their red-zone trips but the Falcons still put up 406 yards of offense which helped set up five field goal drives that helped put 29 points on the board.

Despite the dreadful Christmas Eve loss for the Colts, the good news is teams in the playoff hunt also lost so they still have a chance to win the AFC South and currently hold the seventh seed in the playoff picture heading into their Week 17 matchup with the Las Vegas Raiders.

Before getting to that game, let’s take a look at five takeaways from Indy’s road loss to the Falcons:

5 takeaways from Colts’ 34-14 loss to Bengals

Here are five takeaways from the Colts’ brutal loss to the Bengals.

Today was not the day for the Indianapolis Colts in their blowout loss on the road to the Cincinnati Bengals.

All three phases of the game disappointed and played a major factor in the dominating win by Cincy. The Indy offense struggled to find a rhythm, the defense got gashed on screen plays and played flat for the majority of the game, and the special teams left points off the board as well as muffed a punt.

This was a crucial loss by the Colts but with other teams across the AFC in the playoff hunt losing this week as well, they still can control their fate in the final four weeks.

But for now, here are five takeaways from the dreadful Week 14 loss from Indianapolis:

5 takeaways from Colts’ 39-38 loss to Browns

Here are five takeaways from the Colts’ 39-38 loss to the Browns.

In a roller coaster of a game, the Indianapolis Colts found themselves on the bad end in the final result after the Cleveland Browns scored the game-winning touchdown with just 15 seconds left in the game.

There will be a lot of chatter about that game after the Browns got inside the five-yard line after a pair of highly questionable penalties. Darrell Baker Jr. first got hit with a ticky-tack illegal contact penalty on a play where E.J. Speed forced a fumble and DeForest Buckner recovered it.

On the following play, Baker Jr. was called for defensive pass interference when the ball was clearly uncatchable. It sailed over the receiver’s head into the stands. This loss wasn’t just on the refs. It was self-induced turnovers by Gardner Minshew that led to the Browns getting 17 points off of three of his four turnovers in this matchup. There was also a questionable decision by Shane Steichen to kick a 60-yard field goal, which got blocked by Myles Garrett and led to three points for Cleveland.

It’s woulda, coulda, shoulda, game for Indy but if you take away one of those turnovers or if Steichen elects to punt in that situation, then the contest wouldn’t have came down to the poor officiating on Cleveland’s game-winning drive.

This is a game the Colts should have won. Here are five takeaways from the loss: