The Indianapolis dropped their 10th straight road game against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday to fall to 2-3 on the season. And also of note, the Colts are now 0-2 within the division.
If you’re up for it, let’s take a look back at the Colts’ performance with the good, the bad, and the ugly of it all.
The Good
Joe Flacco: There aren’t many backup quarterbacks who can step into a game and complete 33-of-44 passes for 359 yards with three touchdowns, but Flacco did. Obviously, teams don’t want to have to rely on the backup, but if they do, there is a ton of value in what Flacco can provide off the bench.
Alec Pierce: Another game, another massive spark provided to the offense by Alec Pierce. With the Colts down 14 points, Pierce recorded a 24-yard reception, a 46-yard reception that set up a touchdown, and then a 65-yard touchdown reception. Pierce finished the game with three receptions for 134 yards.
Turnover battle: For the third straight game, the Colts won the all-important turnover battle. As has become the norm in recent weeks, Jaylon Jones came up with a big play forcing a fumble, while Nick Cross came away with an interception on a downfield pass. Unfortunately, and a key part to the game is that no points were scored off those takeaways.
The Bad
Pass defense: Trevor Lawrence came into the game with only one game in which he eclipsed 200 passing yards this season, but he and the Jaguars’ passing game pretty much did whatever they wanted on Sunday. Lawrence finished the game completing 28-of-34 passes for 371 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. He also averaged 10.9 yards per pass attempt, and for some context, the league lead in 2024 is at 8.8 yards per pass attempt.
Pass rush: Contributing to Lawrence’s success in the air was that he had a ton of time in the pocket. Dealing with injuries along the defensive front, the Colts generated just one pressure on 34 dropbacks, according to PFF. The Jaguars also did a good job of mitigating the pass rush by using play-action, screens, and the quick passing game.
What took so long to get Pierce the ball? I thought coming into the game, there would be an opportunity for the Colts to test the Jaguars secondary, which was allowing 7.7 yards per pass attempt through four games–the third-most in football. However, it wasn’t until the Colts were down two scores late that we saw them push the ball downfield. Otherwise, it was a fairly conservative approach for much of the game. If you take away the three passes to Pierce for 134 yards from Flacco’s total, he averaged just 5.4 yards per pass on his other 41 attempts. Again, for added context, over the course of the season that would be the third-lowest mark among quarterbacks.
The Ugly
Too many big plays: Typically, if you win the time of possession battle, generate more turnovers, and are the better third down team–which the Colts were in all three categories–there’s a good chance that team will win the game. However, as the Jaguars did, explosive plays and quick scores can help negate those issues. Running back Tank Bigsby had a 65 yard touchdown run. Receiver Brian Thomas caught a 85 yard touchdown pass from Trevor Lawrence, along with Christian Kirk hauling in a pass of 61 yards, which resulted in a touchdown five plays later. So just like that 14 direct points off explosive plays and 21 in total created by big gains. That’s a lot for the Colts to overcome.