Colts at Jaguars: Next Day Reaction

The Indianapolis Colts suffered their second blowout losses in as many weeks, this time at the unlikely hands of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

It doesn’t get much lower than being smacked around by the Jacksonville Jaguars.

51 points.

42 in the second half alone.

In the past this season, the Colts have made very good halftime adjustments. But not on Sunday. One misplayed pass seemed to snowball and everything came apart for the Colts at an alarming rate.

The Jaguars may be a team on the rise, but there is no excuse for what just happened. Losing was always a possibility with the injuries and being on the road, but in a divisional game there should have been something resembling a competitive effort.

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The (possible) final count for Matt Hasselbeck? Two decent games, four bad ones. And impressive efforts from the defense led to a 4-2 record over that stretch. And for all his efforts, Hasselbeck has been beat to hell. He showed up on the injury report last week, and took a couple big hits Sunday. He now has his arm in a sling to help with spasms from a rib injury. Certainly doesn’t sounds like an injury that is conducive to playing football.

Some have compared the 2015 Colts to the 2006 team that went on to win the Super Bowl. Sorry, but these two team’s couldn’t be further apart. In 2006, they were 10-2 when they were blown out by the Jags, and had won their first nine games (including at New England).

Back then the Colts were dealing with some minor mid-season injuries, but overall had a much better team at that time. Andrew Luck is not the same as Bob Sanders. This season, the team has holes on both sides of the field and maybe Luck can come back and provide some stability. But Luck can’t rush opposing QBs or cover down field.

Injuries certainly took their toll this week, and not just the most obvious one. The offensive line is a complete liability without Anthony Castonzo. The defense was without three starters (four if you continue to count Henry Anderson), forcing players like Bjoern Werner into a bigger role.

But that still doesn’t excuse the performance on Sunday. Every team has massive injuries this late in the year, and the Jaguars were no exception. The Colts have been good for 3-4 blowout losses a year under Chuck Pagano, but usually it is against a decent team and not from the team giving up in the second half.

There is plenty of blame to throw around with the failings of this team. Pagano for not being consistent. GM Ryan Grigson for not bringing in enough talent. Even Luck, when he’s been on the field, for his poor play (and not sliding). Regardless of where the Colts finish this season, there will be changes coming.

So now the hopes for the season rest on Luck making a dramatic return and slinging this team on his back like he’s done so many times. For all of Irsay’s talk about not relying on one player, this team is far more dependent on Luck being brilliant than they ever were on Peyton Manning.

There is a chance Luck plays this week against Houston, but if not it is Charlie Whitehurst time and if you thought you’d seen bad football before you are in for a real treat. Even if Luck does play, he’ll be knocking off six weeks of rust against a defense that had been playing incredibly well and likely with a still ailing offensive line.

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The only way I play Luck is if he is 100 percent, without a doubt healthy. Anything less and you keep him on the sideline this week and probably for the rest of the season. The Colts have to beat Houston to make the playoffs and I doubt this version of the Colts can do it without Luck right now.

That said, the Texans have literally never won in Indy, even in 2011, so there’s always a chance.

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