INDIANAPOLIS – It might mean nothing, or might offer a glimpse of the reality of the moment.
Find a way. Win the close ones.
After seven weeks, the Indianapolis Colts are 4-3 and hold the seventh and final spot in the pursuit of an AFC playoff spot.
They’re the only team in the league to have each of its games decided by one possession. That comes on the heels of the Colts going 7-3 in one-possession games in 2023, Shane Steichen’s first as a head coach.
This from a team with an offense ranked No. 16 in yards and No. 19in scoring and a defense that checks in No. 30 in yards allowed and tied-No. 12 in scoring. That defense, as everyone remembers, was gouged for 474 rushing yards in the first two weeks.
It’s a franchise dealing with the growing pains of a 22-year-old quarterback who just started his ninth career game in Sunday’s 16-10 win over the Miami Dolphins. Anthony Richardson is completing 48.5% of his passes – worst among qualifying quarterbacks – and has twice as many interceptions (six) as touchdown passes (three).
It's a franchise that has won two games with 10 completions in a season for the first time since 1995. Richardson peaked at 10 in the week 3 win over Chicago and again Sunday against the Dolphins.
So much of the Colts’ bottom line doesn’t add up to 4-3 even though there’s no denying they’ve not exactly faced an early-season gauntlet. Their two-game winning streak has come at the expense of the Tennessee Titans and Will Levis and the Tua Tagovailoa-less Dolphins.
At the same time, they’ve dealt with injuries that have forced front-line talent to miss at least two games, often more: Richardson, running back Jonathan Taylor, wideout Josh Downs, center Ryan Kelly, guard Will Fries, defensive tackles DeForest Buckner and Tyquan Lewis, defensive ends Kwity Paye and Samson Ebukam and cornerbacks JuJu Brents and Kenny Moore II.
But you play who’s in front of you. And that means a Sunday rematch with the Texans in Houston. If the Colts return home with a series split, they’ll move into a tie atop the AFC South.
That’s the first step in a perilous five-week stretch. The Texans (5-2), Minnesota Vikings (5-1), Buffalo Bills (5-2), New York Jets (2-5) and Detroit Lions (5-1) are a combined 22-11.
The Colts still are relevant because they’ve found a way, warts and all.
“A lot of these games in this league are lost, not won, by mistakes,’’ Steichen said Monday.
They’re a team incapable of overcoming consecutive games when its run defense yields 213 and 261, or when Richardson suffers three interceptions against the Packers.
But they’ve found a way by getting fourth-quarter defensive stops against Tim Boyle and Miami, Levis and the Titans and Justin Fields and the Steelers, The Colts turned back rookie Caleb Williams and the Bears as Jonathan Taylor and the offense squeezed the final 2 minutes off the clock.
Frequently, they’ve put themselves in a position to win tight games by taking care of the details. The Colts are one of the league’s least-penalized teams (34) and have been docked a league-low 255 yards among teams that have played seven games.
“You want to play smart football. I think that’s part of it,’’ Steichen said. “You’ve got to preach that, but you’ve got to do that. You’ve got to be disciplined and it happens on the practice field.’’
Left tackle Bernard Raimann noted Steichen is a stickler when it comes to penalties during the week. A false start, holding or whatever is called by officials monitoring practice.
“He’s going to make you re-run plays or start periods over and he’s going to move the ball back, making it more difficult for the offense even in practice,’’ Raimann said.
“That prepares us for game situations.’’
The Colts also are a plus-2 in turnover ratio. Over the past five games, they’re plus-5.
“I think finding ways to finish and really having that relentless pursuit at the end of games to finish those games,’’ Steichen said. “Do you finish every single one of them? No, you don’t, but you try like crazy to.
“Our guys are resilient right now and finding ways.’’
Buckner, Taylor returning
Steichen anticipates two of his premier players returning to practice this week. That would be Buckner and Taylor.
Buckner has missed the last five games and remains on the injured reserve list with a sprained right ankle, but should be cleared to practice.
“Optimistic on Buck returning this week,’’ Steichen said.
His game-day status won’t be determined until later in the week.
Taylor has missed the last three games with a high sprain to his right ankle.
“We’ll see how the week goes, but very optimistic on JT as well for the week,’’ Steichen said.
Taylor’s availability for the Houston game also will be determined as the practice week unfolds.
Carlies out
Jaylon Carlies is expected to “miss some time’’ after sustaining an ankle injury against Miami, according to Steichen.
A source with knowledge of the situation added the Colts might place their rookie linebacker on IR with a designation to return. That would require Carlies to miss four games.
Grant Stuard: an example
Steichen didn’t hold back the praise when Grant Stuard’s name was mentioned on Monday’s Zoom conference call.
The special teams standout was pressed into action on defense when linebacker E.J. Speed missed the game with a knee injury. Stuard’s workload increased when Carlies was sidelined.
Stuard was on the field for 87 snaps against Miami: 64 on offense and 23 on special teams. He had handled zero defensive snaps in the first six games.
The NFL’s 2021 Mr. Irrelevant piled up 18 tackles, tied for the third-most by a Colt since at least 1984.
Steichen was asked if Stuard can be an example for the rest of the roster.
“He can be an example for the entire NFL,’’ he said. “I’ll tell you what, the guy is relentless. The way he goes about his business, the way he practices is like nothing I've ever seen.
“Everything’s 100 miles an hour, and he finishes on every drill. And to go out and have the performance that he did on defense . . . the guy just works and there's no secret to success when you work as hard as a guy like he does. It's going to come to fruition at some point.
“And so you get your opportunity to go in and go make plays, and that's what he did. I mean, he's flying around the field all day. He was the player of the game for us on defense. It's very special to see – his story and everything that's happened to him and his life, and the way he played in that game and getting his opportunity, it was special.”
You can follow Mike Chappell on Twitter at @mchappell51.