The Indianapolis Colts are surprisingly alive in the AFC playoff hunt despite Anthony Richardson being injured and Jonathan Taylor missing some time as well. But, their chances took a hit on Sunday as they lost to the Atlanta Falcons, 29-10. With the loss, they are now tied with four others tame with identical 8-7 records although the Colts are hanging on to the 7th seed for the time being.
After the Colts scored just 10 points against the Falcons, head coach Shane Steichen got brutally honest on the lackluster performance (h/t JJ Stankevitz of Colts.com).
“It wasn’t us. It wasn’t us, you know what I mean? You don’t want to see it. You got to stop the bleeding and again, that starts with myself going forward. So, we got to get that corrected.”
The Colts opened the scoring with a Jonathan Taylor touchdown early in the first quarter as he returned from injury, but they scored just one more field goal from that point on.
The Colts offense took a step back
The offensive output by the Colts was discouraging, especially after scoring 30 the week before against the Pittsburgh Steelers and scoring 58 points in the first two games after the bye week.
Gardner Minshew, who has done well in replacing Richardson, offered some advice to the team after the loss, and hopefully they can improve for the final two weeks of the regular season.
In the loss to the Falcons, Minshew threw for just 201 yards with no scores and one interception. Taylor rushed for 43 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries, and the leading pass catcher was tight end Kylen Granson with 62 yards on five grabs as Michael Pittman Jr. missed the game. The Colts offense is 9th in the NFL in points per game (23.6) so managing just 10 points with Taylor on the field surely isn’t what they were expecting against a subpar Falcons defense.
On the other side, the Falcons trotted out Taylor Hienicke as the starter, and he threw for 229 yards with a touchdown pass to Kyle Pitts.
But, as Steichen said, this wasn’t the Colts as usual, and they need to bounce back as they finish the year against the Las Vegas Raiders and Houston Texans.
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