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INTERIOR INDIANAPOLIS COLTS’ LONDON PRACTICE FACILITY - 10/1/16 – DAY
Indianapolis Colts Head Coach Chuck Pagano explains his strategy for the upcoming game against the Jaguars to star quarterback and extra from the Geico Cavemen commercials Andrew Luck.
PAGANO: I don’t think we should play the first half tomorrow. A lot of teams nowadays like to play both halves, and I believe that this is a logical fallacy. Why should we spend all of our time playing football when we can go down by multiple touchdowns early and then try to play back into the game?
LUCK: Sounds like what we do every week, Coach.
PAGANO: Yes. And one day, it will pay off.
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The Indianapolis Colts are 1-3. That is a bad record. They have also given up 125 points, which is third-worst in the league. That too is bad. I’m sorry to break the news to all of you readers, but the Indianapolis Colts are not good. They are bad.
I’m being frank with you for a reason. Many people expected big things out of the Colts the past few seasons, and it seems like it’s finally sinking in that there are more problems than initially expected.
Last year, the Colts went 8-8, a record much better than the team played. Out of the Colts’ eight victories, only two were against eventual playoff teams.
This season, four games in, their problems have multiplied. Missed tackles — Check. Dropped balls — Check. Inane mistakes — Check. Slow starts — Check.
“We’re killing ourselves over and over again,” Indianapolis linebacker D’Qwell Jackson said. “It has to stop now.”
This is a nice sentiment, but I don’t see these misfortunes stopping anytime soon, and neither should Colts fans.
Perhaps the Colts’ biggest problem is their inability to start a football game. Most recently, against Jacksonville, they trailed 23-6 late in the third quarter, and it wasn’t until the final 15 minutes that they scored a touchdown.
Yes, the Colts scored 21 points in this final period, but it was too little too late, as it often is.
Luck often finds himself running for his life between the far-from-stellar offensive line and subpar skill position players struggling to get open. There’s no doubt that Luck is a talented quarterback, but the bulk of his statistics come at the end of the game in garbage time.
The Colts have an important stretch coming up with the dreadful Bears, passable Texans and subpar Titans on the schedule. It’s possible the Colts can reach .500 because their upcoming opponents are okay at best, but their success will solely depend on how quickly they can fix their errors.
It may be early October, but it’s already make-or-break time for the Colts’ season for the next couple of weeks.
There have been a lot of problems thus far, but maybe — just maybe — they can get a little Lucky.
gigottfr@umail.iu.edu
@gott31
