5 Things Learned: Another Crippling Loss In Jacksonville

Source: Rich Storry / Getty

INDIANAPOLIS – The house of horrors that is Jacksonville struck again on Sunday.

With a potentially season-altering injury to Daniel Jones, the Colts got rolled in Jacksonville, 36-19.

What did we learn from the Colts (8-5) dropping their 4^th game in the last 5 weeks?

FIVE THINGS LEARNED

1. Daniel Jones Suffers Achilles Injury

The biggest news item from Sunday was Daniel Jones leaving near the end of the first quarter with a non-contact right Achilles injury. We got much more into the short and potentially long-term ramifications of such an injury here. If we want to dissect Jones’ quarter of play on Sunday, it was a really rough start. Jones tossed an awful interception on the first Colts play from scrimmage. The INT set the Jaguars up with tremendous field position they cashed in for an early 7-0 lead. Jones did find a good amount of rhythm on the following drive, with the Colts tying up the score on a 1-yard TD run by Jonathan Taylor. Jones finished Sunday 5-of-7 for 60 yards and that interception. He did have one scramble for 4 yards on the TD drive. But this day for Jones will be remembered for an injury that could have massive ramifications throughout the franchise.

2. Shane Steichen Goofs Up

Let’s focus on the game for a second. With rookie Riley Leonard taking over at QB, the Colts had to know they needed to be all-in on the quarterback run game, and that’s without factoring in the rainy weather. That’s who Leonard is as a quarterback right now, especially in a week where he was still taking scout team reps and has yet to truly throw with the starting offense at any point this season/offseason. After a huge Grover Stewart forced fumble late in the ffirst half, the Colts had a chance to go into intermission down just one score, while also getting the ball to start the 3^rd quarter. But on a 3^rd-and-1 from the Jaguars 44-yard-line with 1:54 to play, Shane Steichen dialed up a pass by Leonard. The inaccurate rookie had his downfield pass batted down, thus putting all the pressure on 4^th-and-1 to pick up. And that’s when a shotgun handoff to Jonathan Taylor got blown up in the backfield. From there, the Jaguars drove the half field to punch in a late-half touchdown and stretch the lead at intermission to 28-10. Instead of playing to Leonard’s only real strength, Steichen got greedy with his rookie QB. It proved very costly.

3. Defense No Shows

Putting the Daniel Jones injury to the side, what an awful defensive performance by the Colts on Sunday. In the first half, the Colts allowed 28 points (most by the team since November 2020), giving up an ugly 7.1 yards per play. The Jaguars found great balance with Travis Etienne running and Trevor Lawrence throwing. A Colts pass rush that has had way too many quiet moments had more of those on Sunday as the mediocre Jaguars offense built and built their lead. Life without DeForest Buckner and Sauce Garnder isn’t ideal and their losses showed up in both spots. The lack of run defense/pass rush pressure. And then Jaylon Jones getting beat too often when Lawrence tete the Colts secondary. The Colts didn’t record a single sack or quarterback hit despite Lawrence attempting 30 passes. While Lawrence seems to have more downs than ups against the rest of the NFL, he continues to play his best against the Colts. The 36 points scored by the Jaguars were a season-high.

4. Big Picture Changing?

It’s not often we react in a big picture manner, but life in Jacksonville seems to bring that out for the Colts. Even before the potentially devastating injury to Daniel Jones, this was trending in yet another loss in Jacksonville. You have to go back to 2014 since the Colts last won a game on the road against the Jaguars. With Sunday’s loss, the Colts are now on the fringe of playoff position and looking at a rookie quarterback potentially starting the final 4 games. Big picture, what would a 5^th straight year of missing the playoffs mean for the pillars of the organization—GM (Chris Ballard), head coach (Shane Steichen), quarterback (Daniel Jones)? Is Carlie Irsay-Gordon going to chalk this up as a year that got away due to injuries and bring everyone back? Isolating Joens, will the resume lacking hardly anything of substance more for Ballard, than Steichen, lead to change? The answers aren’t easy, especially without a first-round pick in 2026 and 2027. But they are questions that also can’t be ignored if the final 4 weeks continue to go down this path.

5. Playoff Hopes Clinging

With 4 weeks to go, the Colts are now in a fight for their playoff lives, and that’s not even factoring potentially a Day 3 rookie QB under center for the last 4 games. And after weeks of sitting atop the AFC South, they will need help in order to capture that elusive divisional title. The Colts have now lost 4 of 5, including 3 straight since returning from their bye week. After losing in Kansas City a few weeks back, the Colts entered about as a critical of a two-game stretch as you’ll find with the Texans and the Jaguars. A split, at the least, was a must. Yet, the Colts lost both. With that their playoff hopes are around a coin flip. In the Shane Steichen era, the Colts are now 3-7 all-time against the Texans/Jaguars. My how times have changed since the Colts used to dominate the AFC South.

6. Indianapolis Colts v New York Jets

QUICK HITTERS

-Injury Report: The following Colts were inactive on Sunday: CB-Sauce Gardner (calf), DE-Tyquan Lewis (ankle), S-George Odum, S-Reuben Lowery III, RB-D.J. Giddens, TE-Will Mallory, OT-Luke Tenuta. The following players got injured and did not return: DE-JT Tuimoloau (concussion), QB-Daniel Jones (Achilles), CB-Chris Lammons (foot), RT-Braden Smith (concussion), WR-Alec Pierce (undisclosed).

Key Stat: The Colts have not won in Jacksonville since Week 14 of the 2015 season.

-What’s Next: The Colts (8-4) are on the road again in Week 15, taking on the Seahawks (9-3) in their third and final west coast trip of the year. It’s a 4:25 PM kickoff next Sunday.