Colts destroy Jags, get their groove back

After a bit of a slow start, the Colts turned it on in the second half to blowout the Jaguars in a game they needed to win to keep their playoff hopes alive.

It wasn’t the best of starts for the Colts. They allowed an opening drive touchdown to the Jaguars as Nick Foles carved up the defense. But after that, it was all Indy. The Colts ran the ball down Jacksonville’s throat en route to a blowout victory to the tune of 33-13.

Marlon Mack had himself a great day. He only played two and a half quarters before getting hurt, but he still ran for 109 yards and a sweet touchdown on just 14 carries. But he did leave with a hand injury, and his status is up in the air for Thursday’s big game against Houston.

When Mack went out, Jonathan Williams stepped in. He did so in a big way. He also ran for over 100 yards, amassing 116 yards himself. He had a couple of big runs in the fourth quarter to help him get that total, as he only needed 13 carries for those yards.

The common denominator for both of those rushers is the offensive line. They were fantastic at run blocking today. The team rushed for 264 yards, and the offensive line is a huge reason for that. They were able to get into the second level for blocks almost every running play.

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As good as they were in run blocking, they weren’t very good in pass blocking situations. They gave up 3 sacks, and that has suddenly become an issue for this team. They didn’t need to throw the ball very often in this game though so it didn’t matter too much.

Defensively, the Colts played really well after giving up that early touchdown. Rock Ya-Sin had his first career interception, but he also got hurt in this game. Justin Houston had another sack and extended his streak of games with a sack to 6.

Foles had issues navigating the blitz the Colts brought. Kenny Moore got a sack off the edge on a blitz. Other times the blitz just made him move around in the pocket and throw inaccurate balls. It was overall a good performance from the defense.

Perhaps the best news from this game was the performance of Adam Vinatieri. He was 5/5 on his kicks today. He made all four extra points and made a 34-yard field goal as well. He needed a performance like this to keep his job for another week.

This was a great performance from every level of this team. They ended to have it, as they face the Texans on Thursday night on a short week. Both teams will be tied for first place in the division headed into that one, although the Colts have the tiebreaker for winning earlier in the year.

These next few days will be about getting healthy. There are all kinds of guys who need to get healthy as quickly as possible before that Thursday night showdown.