Colts flounder against Eagles, fall 33-23

The Indianapolis Colts lost their second straight preseason game, this time at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles, 33-23. The Colts looked atrocious in what was supposed to be a “dress rehearsal” for the regular season.

The same problems that have been an issue for the past four years plagued the Colts on Saturday night, causing outrage among Colts fans. A slow start, atrocious offensive line play, big plays on defense, and unnecessary penalties were the name of the game for the Colts. The scoreboard doesn’t show just how lopsided this game really was.

Frankly, they didn’t look good in any phase of the game. The few bright points? A dime pass from Andrew Luck to Donte Moncrief following a Darius Butler interception (which led to an ankle injury for Butler). The second was a blocked punt in the third quarter that was recovered for a touchdown.

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The first half of football from the Colts was a complete trainwreck, and somehow they only gave up 17 points. For the defense, that was a small miracle with seven starters out and an eighth lost early in the game. Penalties killed this team as they were hit nine times for 85 yards, all on completely avoidable errors (a theme this preseason).

The rare times that Luck did have time, he looked very good. He was 13-for-18 for 134 yards tonight. He’s clearly got his throwing motion back and his footwork is much better. A healthy Luck will take this team far, but it might not last if the offensive line continues to play so poorly.

Luck took six hits in the pocket and another shot at the end of a scramble. That goes along with the three sacks the offensive line gave up. It wasn’t just the rookies who struggled either as Anthony Castonzo was consistently worked over, a continuation of his poor play in the other two preseason games this year.

There really isn’t a performance that stands out or anything to be encouraged about from this game. Perhaps it’s that the Colts starting receivers (and a few of the backups) looked very good, but it won’t matter if Luck doesn’t have time to throw.

It’s tough to take the preseason too seriously, but this was a truly awful performance in nearly every phase of the game.

Up next, the Colts will be at Cincinnati to face the Bengals on Thursday.