The Indianapolis Colts lost to the Tennessee Titans in Week 4 after an unsuccessful comeback attempt. Here’s why Indy lost on Sunday.
After four weeks of the NFL season, the Indianapolis Colts are 1-2-1. While not necessarily the worst record in the league, it’s extremely underwhelming for a team that entered the season with Indy’s expectations, and the losses for the Colts have been embarrassing. The latest one was Sunday against the Tennessee Titans.
The Titans came into Lucas Oil Stadium and beat Indy for the fourth straight time. After entering halftime down 24-10 the Colts made a comeback attempt but fell short, ultimately losing to Tennessee 24-17. There was a lot that went wrong for Indianapolis throughout the game, and even when the team cleaned things up late, Indy couldn’t get out of its own way. Here are three reasons why Indy lost on Sunday.
3. Jonathan Taylor has to be better
Jonathan Taylor finished the game with 20 carries for 42 yards. As one of the best running backs in the NFL, and the engine of the Indianapolis offense, the Colts aren’t going to win many games when Taylor has that stat line. Sunday was especially embarrassing since the Titans entered the game with one of the league’s worst run defenses.
However, Taylor’s production isn’t entirely his fault. Football is a team game, and running backs are only as good as the surrounding offense. The offensive line and receivers didn’t do a great job at carving out lanes for Taylor to find space and make plays. Even still, Taylor did have a pretty big role in Indy’s failed comeback attempt.
When the Colts were down just seven points early in the fourth quarter, they were putting together a productive drive that could’ve tied the game. Facing a third-and-1, Indy turned to its best offensive player in Taylor. Unfortunately, Jonathan fumbled the ball, giving the ball to Tennessee and ending a promising drive.
If the Colts are going to turn things around, they will need more from their best player, especially in the game’s biggest moments.
2. Matt Ryan still isn’t protecting the ball
Matt Ryan finished the game completing 27-of-37 passes for 356 yards and two touchdowns. He played a solid second half and was a big reason why the Colts almost pulled off the comeback attempt. Unfortunately, Ryan was also the reason Indy was even facing a deficit.
In the first half, Matt Ryan had two turnovers: a fumble and an interception. Both turnovers gave the Titans short fields and led to touchdowns for Tennessee. It’s never good when you turn the ball over and Matt Ryan has made a habit of doing just that through his first four games with the Colts.
Through those four games, Ryan has five interceptions and an unreasonable nine fumbles, including two against the Titans on Sunday. That’s simply unacceptable for any NFL player but especially a 37-year-old quarterback that is playing in his 15th NFL season as a starter.
Ryan has talked about how he needs to do a better job at protecting the football and covering it with two hands as he maneuvers through the pocket, all things you’d hear a young quarterback say. However, his words haven’t been put into action as he’s still fumbling the ball away.
As long as that’s a problem for Ryan, Indy’s offense will continue to struggle and the Colts will continue to lose games.
1. Colts’ defense couldn’t stop Derrick Henry
Indianapolis entered Sunday with the third-best rushing defense, allowing just 77 yards a game in the ground. Derrick Henry entered Sunday without a 100-yard rushing game through three weeks. It would’ve made perfect sense for Indy’s stifling run defense to shut Henry down and show the Titans that they were no longer king of the AFC South. However, that didn’t happen, at all.
Derrick Henry had himself a field day against the Colts, and the defense that was so stout against the run in the first three weeks was nowhere to be found against Tennessee. Henry had 99 yards in the first half alone and ultimately finished the game with 22 carries for 114 yards and one touchdown. He also added three receptions for 33 yards.
Obviously, Indy’s defense did show up in the second half, shutting Tennessee out and limiting Henry to just 15 yards but the damage was already done. 24 points and 100 rushing yards in the first half was simply too much for Indy to overcome.
Sure, the offense put the Colts’ defense in some tough situations with the turnovers early but if Indy is going to be an elite defense, it has to step up to those challenges. When everything is going wrong, a team should be able to lean on what it does well. For the Colts, that’s stopping the run.
Unfortunately, even that went wrong on Sunday and as a result, Indianapolis lost another game. They’ll have to correct things and move on fast because they’ll be starting Week 5 against the Denver Broncos on Thursday Night Football.
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