After looking back at the Colts’ performance against the Jaguars in Week 17, here is the good, the bad, and the ugly from what took place.
The Indianapolis Colts lost their sixth consecutive game on Sunday, this time to the Jacksonville Jaguars, 23-17.
Over the weekend, the Colts were eliminated from playoff contention and now enter another offseason full of questions.
But for now, let’s take a look back at the Colts’ Week 17 performance with the good, bad, and ugly.
The good from Colts vs. Jaguars
Ashton Dulin: In his first game back from injury, Dulin had a big day on special teams. Dulin totaled 129 return yards on kickoffs, averaging 43 yards per attempt. One big return led to a Colts’ field goal, and another led to a touchdown. Dulin had several impactful punt coverage reps.
Offensive capitalizes on opportunities: As just mentioned, the Colts’ offense took advantage of the field position that Dulin provided them, generating 10 points off those two return attempts. Indianapolis also turned a red zone fumble by the Jaguars into a touchdown of their own.
Red zone takeaways: The Colts’ defense helped keep this game close. The Jaguars’ offense moved the ball well throughout the game, but Indianapolis recovered a fumble in the red zone and came away with an interception. The Jaguars’ offense was just 2-for-5 on their red zone attempts.
Lou Anarumo blitzes often: The Colts’ four-man pass rush has struggled to create pressure, so in this game, Anarumo dialed up a heavy dose of pressure. According to PFF, the Colts blitzed Trevor Lawrence on 51.2% of his snaps. Lawrence ended up under pressure on 48.8% of his dropbacks.
The bad from Colts vs. Jaguars
Still no run game to lean on: Jonathan Taylor totaled 70 rushing yards, but averaged just 3.3 yards per attempt. For much of the second half of the season, the Colts’ run game hasn’t generated many big plays, and moving the ball on the ground has been more challenging with Phillip Rivers at quarterback and his lack of mobility.
A lack of explosive passing plays: Rivers’ longest completion of the day was just 18 yards. He averaged just 4.9 yards per pass attempt. No run game to lean on and a lack of explosive plays make putting up points extremely difficult.
The ugly from Colts vs. Jaguars
Another missed postseason: The Colts were eliminated from the playoffs on Saturday with Houston’s win over LA. This is now five straight seasons that the Colts have missed the playoffs. Indianapolis also hasn’t won the AFC South since 2014. Going from 8-2 to missing the playoffs puts the Colts in rare company — and that’s not a good thing. There are once again many question marks around this team moving forward.