Sluggish, sloppy and downright frustrating. That might be a generous description of the Colts’ performance in Green Bay on Sunday, falling to 0-2 in a 16-10 defeat.
It was the most forgettable 60 minutes of Colts football in recent memory. The defense made Packers quarterback Malik Willis look like a 15-year veteran. Self-inflicted wounds caused an offensive mess. It felt like Indy never left the locker room.
“We gotta start fast, bottom line,” head coach Shane Steichen said after the game.
His team didn’t get on the scoreboard until the third quarter, and wouldn’t find the end zone until 1:47 left to play, but the offense played from behind the entire game.
For the second straight week, Indy couldn’t stop the run. The Packers did what they pleased on the ground in the first half, rushing for an astonishing 237 yards and a 10-0 lead going into halftime, a lead which would’ve been 17 had Josh Jacobs not fumbled on the goal line.
Sunday’s game raised more questions about the Colts defense than it answered. After vowing to clean up the run defense, they allowed more yards on the ground in the first half alone than they did all of last week. The pressure is mounting for defensive coordinator Gus Bradley to figure out a solution, and fast.
To make matters worse, two defensive linemen left the game with injuries. Rookie Laiatu Latu suffered a hip injury, and DeForest Buckner, the heartbeat of the entire unit, suffered an ankle injury which required a golf cart to bring him to the locker room. Paired with the back injury Buckner was nursing coming into the game, he’s in rough shape.
A lesson learned the hard way for Bradley, who’s quickly come under fire the first two weeks for poor defensive showings. Ultimately, their lack of a response to Green Bay’s offensive game plan put the offense in an early hole. But, the offense didn’t help themselves at all.
“Turning the ball over, that’s a no-go,” said quarterback Anthony Richardson, who had three interceptions in the loss. “We know we’re a way better football team than we’re presenting right now.”
Every time Richardson and the offense took a step forward, an unforced error would knock them back twice as far. Whether it was an untimely penalty, an accurate pass being dropped, or a missed field goal, the offense severely lacked an identity.
Only Jonathan Taylor showed much fight, totalling 135 yards on 14 carries. Nobody was able to complement his efforts.
For team captain Michael Pittman Jr., it came down to executing the basics and staying on schedule.
“We gotta hit our base plays,” he said, adding they can’t just rely on big plays. “We just gotta find ways to stay on the field.”
Two games in, the Colts offense has hardly been on the field. Indy lost the time of possession battle 20:00 to 40:00 and 19:49 to 40:11 in each of their first two losses, respectively.
Lots of blame to go around. Lots to correct as well, on both sides of the ball going forwards. As usual, Steichen is willing to fall on the sword for his men.
“I gotta do a better job…it starts with myself,” Steichen said.
While remaining confident in his operations, the second-year head coach is playing with fire.
And if something doesn’t change in Indy soon, then Steichen might burn his house to the ground.
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