Stop the Presses: the Colts Were Fun to Watch on Sunday
By David Palmer
The Colts shrugged off a slow start to rout the visiting Buffalo Bills 37-5 on Sunday.
A blind squirrel finds a nut. A broken clock is right twice a day. The Indianapolis Colts dominate a game.
It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes the Colts wake up and play four quarters of quality football. Sure, all it took was a matchup against the 2-4 Buffalo Bills who were starting a quarterback who two weeks ago was waiting in line at Disney World, but let’s not get hung up on technicalities. A 37-5 win is a 37-5 win.
Andrew Luck was at his Andrew Luck-iest, tossing for three touchdowns in the first half en route to four total scores and a 131.5 rating, albeit just 156 yards on 23 attempts. Marlon Mack also continued his impressive work from last week, running for a career-high 126 yards. And T.Y. Hilton, returning from missing the last two weeks with a hamstring injury, had a nice game, catching four balls for two scores.
Darius Leonard also continued to be his freakish self, totaling 17(!!!) tackles, as well as recovered a fumble. Mike Mitchell, playing in his second game in Indy blue since being signed, was all over the place, logging seven tackles (including a *monster* hit to stop Marcus Murphy short on 4th down) and an interception of Derek Anderson late in the second quarter that led to an Adam Vinatieri field goal.
Now the Colts did have some of the foolish plays, like Ryan Kelly snapping the ball over an unprepared Andrew Luck and it going through the back of the end zone for a safety. Also Vinatieri missed two extra points and nearly shanked a gimme field goal. Ya know. Colts stuff.
But Sunday isn’t about the issues. It is a chance for Colts fans to exhale, to take a small step back and find at least a brief moment of joy in this rebuilding year. It lets us all see that the Colts’ offense is capable of being what it has teased at being for the last six seasons and that the defense has its own stars in the making with Leonard, Malik Hooker and Kemoko Turay (who forced a fumble).
It was just a fun game to watch, plain and simple. After a shaky start (several three-and-outs by Luck and the Bills marching before stalling out), Indianapolis grabbed control and never looked back. With the Jaguars falling to the Texans and the Titans losing in London, suddenly the 2-5 Colts are right in the thick of the AFC South hunt. They will travel to Oakland and face the Raiders next week (who are coming off a bye and could be without a possibly traded Amari Cooper) before returning home to play the Jaguars and Titans. The next three weeks will really shape the 2018 Indianapolis Colts season, and show us all if they are worth taking seriously, but Sunday was a step in the right direction for many reasons.