Week twelve was not kind to Indianapolis as they took another loss by the final score of 24-6 to the Detroit Lions. The Colts could not find the endzone, as the only points came off the foot of kicker Matt Gay. Another poor performance from this coaching staff (specifically Shane Steichen) leads to more questions than answers. My pre-game analysis was close to what happened (for once!) so let’s react to what we saw from this past week.
Richardson Did Show Progress
Just looking at the box score, you would think that Anthony Richardson was the reason they lost this football game. On the contrary, it was actually the exact opposite. He finished 11/28 for 172 yards but did finish as the team’s leading rusher. Richardson had ten carries for 61 yards; nearly all those yards were designed quarterback runs. His accuracy was poor again, but let’s dive a little deeper into those misses.
Look, I get it, 11/28 is not great and brought back the past concerns. It was a mixture of issues that were not on the shoulders of Richardson. That mixture was poor offensive line play, an onslaught of penalties, and numerous dropped passes. These problems caused a perfect storm for Anthony Richardson.
The poor offensive line play can be attributed to this line starting 3 rookies now, but we saw the other veterans struggle as well. Quenton Nelson had 3 penalties called on him and Braden Smith had 1 as well. The glaring issues with rookie Dalton Tucker continued and the Colts tipped their hand by signing veteran and former Colt Mark Glowinski to the practice squad.
The penalties and dropped passes can be poured into one issue as they stunted any momentum Indy was able to muster up. The Colts committed 10 penalties totaling 75 yards. Specifically, they had gains of 19, 21, 22, and 30, all taken off the board from penalties. The offensive pass interference call was honestly one of the worst calls I have ever seen. It’s hard to overcome any type of long down and distance on a consistent basis.
Matt Gay Was The Only Scorer
My biggest pregame prediction was the importance of scoring and taking every point, you can to keep up with this Lions offense. The Colts only had 11 first downs compared to the Lions 27. The Colts had two first-half opportunities in the red zone and could not convert. The first was (shocking) a penalty that stalled the drive. On the second drive, Richardson threw a perfect ball to Drew Ogletree that he dropped at the goal line. The drop was inexcusable. If you convert those two, it gives this team a spark and momentum. Instead, it just let the air out of the balloon and they never recovered.
Lions Dominated The Line Of Scrimmage
It was evident who won this battle by the end of the game. It was clearly the Lions on both sides of the football. The Colts defensive line did get 3 sacks and 9 hits on Jared Goff, but you could see the Lions were controlling that line of scrimmage. The Lions converted 9/15 third downs, many of them on the ground and getting that push from the offensive line.
As for the Colts offensive line, the regression is continuing. Now, again, they have three rookies starting this week and some growing pains are expected. However, they are not improving week after week. The penalties were embarrassing, and Richardson (while never sacked) was under siege most of the day. While the penalties didn’t help his box score numbers, the constant pressure forced him to make imperfect throws. Not to mention the fact Indy’s offensive line was going up against an Aidan Hutchinson-less Lions front.
The Colts head to New England next week as they are now in must-win territory going forward. They have 5 games remaining sitting at 5-7. The gauntlet of their schedule is over and 4/5 games coming in are very winnable. The game in Denver after the bye week could decide the playoff fate for both teams.
More from The Blue Stable:
