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5 Things Learned: Colts Blasted In Jacksonville
INDIANAPOLIS – Are there really 9 more games in the Colts (2-6) season?
Sunday in Jacksonville brought more of the same from the Colts in northeast Florida, with 42-7 loss being the biggest of the Shane Steichen era.
What did we learn from the Colts dropping their 13th game in the last 15 contests?
FIVE THINGS LEARNED
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-Trick Play Ugliness: I’m not sure there’s a moment that better summarizes the Colts horrid decade-plus of playing football in Jacksonville than the trick play turned fumble from Sunday’s first half. With the Colts down 7-0 and nearing field goal range, Shane Steichen went deep into the trick play bag on a 1st-and-10. The trick play appeared to be some form of a hand off to Jonathan Taylor, with a reverse to Josh Downs and who the hell knows what was supposed to follow that. With rain starting to fall, a stumbling Taylor tossed one to Downs, hitting the trade requested wideout in the facemask, sending the ball bouncing to the ground. In what almost looked like a glitch, Downs didn’t dive towards the fumble, allowing for the Jaguars to pounce on the gift of a turnover. This sort of play call, execution and decision was so on brand for the Colts in Jacksonville. For the second time in three weeks, the Colts put together an embarrassing performance against a divisional opponent. The first one led to the firing of Chris Ballard. It was my assumption Shane Steichen would get the chance to finish the season out, but Sunday was certainly a fireable performance, especially for a coach that has yet to make the postseason, has now lost 9 straight road games and coaches a team that has dropped 13 of their last 15 games. Will Irsay-Gordon fire both her GM and head coach before the mid-way point of the season? The firing of Ballard was needed to begin the fire sale prior to the trade deadline. The firing of Steichen would be strictly in the “send a message” department and officially start the full-on rebuild.
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No Juice Offense: Going back to the awful sight of his torn Achilles last year, Daniel Jones’ early-season struggles continued on Sunday. In getting benched early in the 4th quarter, Jones finished Sunday going 19-of-28 for 144 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. One play that was certainly not the fault of Jones was a back-breaking pick six near the end of the first half. It was a well-thrown ball going through the hands of Tyler Warren to end whatever very bleak hope the Colts had. As we’ve said, Shane Steichen’s leash for Jones is extremely long, even though the conversation about benching him is beyond fair. The Colts offense has zero juice to it, as currently constructed, unless the rare crease is there for Jonathan Taylor. On Sunday, Steichen felt no clear pressure to put Anthony Richardson Sr. in the game. Despite rain falling and the Colts getting drilled 42-7, Steichen kept Jones in the game. But with Jones tossing one of his typical 2026 turnovers on that drive, it finally led to Richardson getting his first action of 2026. Again, Steichen’s affinity for Jones is extremely strong, so for those thinking Richardson could be starting next Sunday against Dallas, don’t hold your breath.
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-Defense Reverts Back: Facing its first competent quarterback/offense in a few weeks, the Colts defense reverted back to some of the issues we saw earlier this season. The start of that was seen early on Sunday when the Jaguars put together a 98-yard touchdown drive, with some massive coverage busts leading to the woeful day for Lou Anarumo and company. Sunday’s tackling effort by the Colts brought back some ugly early-season memories of those struggles. If you want a couple of bright spots from Sunday, rookie CJ Allen got his first NFL start and seemed to be pretty active in the run game (finishing with a team-high 10 tackles), and flashed with a nice blitzing sack of Trevor Lawrnence. Second-year defensive end Jaylahn Tuimoloau had a beautiful spin move leading to what looked to be a potentially game-changing strip-sack of Lawrence (narrator’s voice: it was not). Even Day 3 rookie Caden Curry flashed with a strong interior rush leading to a Laiatu Latu sack. But when the Jaguars had 5 touchdown drives in the 9 series led by Trevor Lawrnece, it’s hard to celebrate much. Could Anarumo be a Week 8 scapegoat for such an awful afternoon of football?
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-Who Gets Traded Next? What really matters for the 2026 Colts. They didn’t appear to have any injuries on Sunday and that’s key for trades that could be coming in the next 9 days. That’s the reality of the Colts current situation, with the trade deadline coming a week from Tuesday (November 10th). More attention is here following the trades of Quenton Nelson and DeForest Buckner. For those curious, the Colts didn’t have any surprise healthy inactives on Sunday. Some pondered how the Colts would handle their rumored trade deadline candidates, but they dressed/played all of those guys. With a fourth straight loss though, the Colts are 2-6, looking like they’ll send a top-5/top-10 pick to the New York Jets for 2027. There was something fitting about Josh Downs scoring the lone Colts touchdown of the day, in the same week where he made it abundantly clear he would more than welcome a trade. One of the more interesting stat lines of the first half was Jonathan Taylor having just 5 carries at halftime. That’s an extremely low number for Taylor, as Seth McGowan carried the ball 3 times in the first two quarters. Taylor finished the afternoon with 8 total carries. While the Colts aren’t actively shopping Taylor, they are listening to offers, as they should be. Pathetically, this is probably the only real drama left in this Colts 2026 season.
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-Like Always In Jacksonville: As the Colts embrace their rebuild, they continue to lose football games. This is now a 4th straight loss, and 13 of 15 defeats going to back to last season. This marks 12 straight Colts losses to teams with a record of .500 or better. The losing streak in Jacksonville extends for another season, dating back to the 2015 campaign. For those that were holding onto that flicker of AFC South hope, this is a massive blow to those rapidly dwindling hopes. As the Colts hit the mid-way point of the season, they are 2-6, having lost to the Jaguars (their second AFC South loss). The Jaguars are atop the division at 5-2. On the first day of November, it’s beyond fair to say it’ll take a miracle for the Colts end their 5-year playoff drought this season.
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QUICK HITTERS
Inactive Players: WR-Anthony Gould (concussions), CB-Justin Walley (knee), LB-Bryce Boettcher (groin), OL-Dalton Tucker, TE-Pharoah Brown, DT-Kevin Givens, OT-Charlie Heck
Injury Report: The following Colts left Sunday’s game due to injury:
Stat Of The Game: The 35-point loss is the biggest for the Colts since the 2017 season opener against the Rams.
What’s Next: The Colts (2-6) will return home next week to host the Cowboys (3-5), in a 1:00 PM kickoff. Reminder, the NFL trade deadline awaits two days after that Dallas game, on Tuesday, November 10th.