Devin Healy (Greenfield, Ind.): With Spencer now out for the season will the Colts be able to keep the momentum? Spencer got us 53 points, 13 FG and 14 extra points. Should we be worried about this? Especially with how this season has gone with games being close for other teams in the NFL down to FG(s) and extra points?
JJ Stankevitz: Losing Shrader is certainly a blow, Devin. It was clear head coach Shane Steichen trusted him to connect in any situation, and while only two of the Colts’ five games have come down to one possession, that’s not likely to be the norm for the rest of the season.
The Colts have confidence in Michael Badgley, who was signed after a workout Tuesday, given his familiarity with long snapper Luke Rhodes and holder Rigoberto Sanchez, and that over his last four seasons (with the Titans, Colts, Bears and Lions) he connected on 85.2 percent of his field goals and 96.6 percent of his PATs.
But the importance of having a kicker who can deliver in these moments shouldn’t be understated. There have been 16 field goals attempted with less than 10 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter or overtime of games this season, with 14 of those (87.5 percent) being made; three of those field goals were from 50+ yards.
Those 16 tries league-wide are significantly higher than 2024, when in the same situation over the first five weeks of a season, only seven game-winning/game-tying field goals were attempted in the final seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime. There were seven such attempts (including a game-tying PAT) in 2023; 10 in 2022; 15 in 2021; seven in 2020; six in 2019; 13 in 2018…in the interest of time, I’ll just say: The 2025 season has already seen a high number of end-of-game kicks compared to recent history.
Chances are, the Colts will at some point need Badgley to hit a game-tying or game-winning field goal, as Shrader did as time expired in Week 2. The Colts are confident he can connect on it, though, if and when the need arises.