Gardner Minshew’s first game back at EverBank Stadium started with nine consecutive completions. While it wasn’t enough to get into the end zone, the Indianapolis Colts’ opening drive spanned 16 plays and 65 yards before ending with a short field goal.
It was a drive the Colts hoped would cause the Jacksonville Jaguars to make some adjustments on defense. But when the Jaguars were dared to change, defensive coordinator Mike Caldwell didn’t oblige.
“They played base defense against us all day, whether we were in our big personnel or our sub personnel… just to alleviate double teams, not let us get to the second level,” Colts center Ryan Kelly told ESPN’s Stephen Holder after the loss. “They did it against us Week 1. [They said] we’ll give you the 5-yard routes. We thought we would be able to pass them out of it, but it didn’t work.”
On the Colts’ first drive, the average depth of Gardner Minshew’s targets was just 1.7 yards. While it was a mostly effective start to the game, it wasn’t something the Jaguars felt was sustainable.
We knew right then and there, they were not going to beat us doing that,” Jaguars pass rusher Josh Allen said. “They were not going to score if they kept dinking and dunking. For us, it was finding that moment, finding that opportunity to keep them to field goals and stop them on first down.”
Indianapolis finished with 44 rushing yards on the day on only 17 attempts. It wasn’t much better than the 65 rushing yards the team managed against the Jaguars in Week 1. In the Colts’ other four games this season, they’ve finished with at least 125 rushing yards.
Maybe even more important than the stout run defense was the four turnovers forced by the Jaguars defense. A Josh Allen strip sack and an Andre Cisco interception, both in the second quarter, set up a pair of Jaguars touchdowns that ballooned the team’s lead to 18 points.
“The game plan was to stop the run,” Jaguars safety Andre Cisco said. “They came out dinking and dunking. We knew that’s not something you could get successful all day in this league. You can’t just dink and dunk and drive the field every time. Especially against a defense like us.
“We were taking away the shot plays and stopping the run. That’s kind of what they had to resort to.”
