With the Indianapolis Colts needing a victory against the two-win New York Giants to keep their playoff hopes alive, they instead delivered another devastating loss to be added to their recent collection.
If you’re up for it, let’s dive into the instant takeaways from Indianapolis’ performance:
– Your season is on the line, and you’re facing the two-win Giants–and this is the performance that the team delivers? Unacceptable. The defense is obviously the most at fault, but as we will discuss, there were missed opportunities on offense as well. This cannot happen, but yet here we are, and the issues go well beyond the play on the field.
– Explosive plays, both on the ground and through the air, have been a major issue for the Colts’ defense all season, and the Giants took advantage. By my count, New York generated seven plays of at least 19 yards in this game, most of which came via the passing game.
– Missed tackles, missed tackles, missed tackles. A season-long issue reared its head again today.
– The defense was able to bottle up the Giants’ running game, and beforehand, I thought that if the Colts could accomplish that, they’d find quite a bit of success by putting Drew Lock in obvious passing situations. However, that wasn’t the case, with there being inconsistent pressure on Lock and Malik Nabers taking advantage of the Colts leaving him in man coverage.
– It was tough sledding in the run game for the Colts for a large portion of this game. This isn’t new either when Joe Flacco is under center and the threat of the quarterback carrying the ball is non-existent. However, Taylor did pick up steam as the game went on and it was nice to see Shane Steichen stick with the ground game even when trailing by two scores. That hasn’t always happened this season.
– That steady presence of the run game helped keep the Colts ahead of the sticks and allowed them to be fairly efficient on third downs, which helped sustain drives.
– I did like how Steichen dialed up screens and an end-around to AD Mitchell in place of the quarterback run game.
– Overall, the offense did find success moving the ball, but too many self-inflicted mistakes had multiple drives stall out. On one possession, Flacco faced quick pressure and threw an interception. Another red zone possession ended with a sack and then one on a fourth down stop. Matt Gay also missed a 54-yard attempt as well.
– The Colts’ return game had been leaking oil in recent weeks with Denver and Tennessee finding some success and the Giants then continued that trend even more so with a 100 yard kick return to begin the second half.
– In big games, you need your best players to play their best and Michael Pittman provided Flacco with a go-to option in the passing game. It was also a nice return to action for Alec Pierce.
– Whether it was Pittman or Pierce, the Colts clearly wanted to attack Giants’ cornerback Deonte Banks today–and they did.
– A lot more stability in the passing game with Flacco’s steadiness today on those intermediate throws. However, too many miscues on defense and missed opportunities on offense wiped away what was mostly an impressive day for the passing game and Jonathan Taylor.
(This article was updated to provide additional information.)
