Going into Week 1, it was almost certain that victory would be a challenge for the Indianapolis Colts. That's only natural when facing one of the premier teams in the league, the Baltimore Ravens, with one of the premier quarterbacks in the league, Lamar Jackson. Once the game had ended, Indy had lost 41-23.
After the way last season ended, expectations were tempered coming into a matchup with a predicted juggernaut of 2026. Unfortunately for Colts fans, even that low bar was not met by the team in Week 1
The game was an overall embarrassing showing by Indy, especially by the defense. It was a collectively lackluster effort, and while some players shone brighter than others, still more disappointing. Here are three players whose stocks are plummeting after Week 1.
Three disappointing Indianapolis Colts from Week 1
No. 1: CB Sauce Gardner
The much -maligned midseason trade for Sauce Gardner in 2025 has been a consistent point of controversy for Colts fans. For a stretch last year, the question with him was his availability. Unfortunately, in Week 1, it was his play as well.
Now, this isn't to dog on Gardner specifically; this spot could realistically go to any player in the secondary (or the run defense, for that matter). But the point of the trade was to take a decent defense and make it elite with a shutdown corner. This is a team that allowed Zay Flowers to rack up 150 yards and a touchdown in essentially one half of football.
That doesn't sound like a pass defense anchored by one of the true shutdown corners in football. Obviously, it's not all Gardner's fault, but as the leader of the unit and the biggest star on the defense, he has to be held accountable for a performance that saw the team get gashed for a staggering 41 points.
No. 2: QB Daniel Jones
Let's be clear. With a stat sheet of 19/31 completions, 166 yards, one touchdown, and one interception, Daniel Jones wasn't necessarily bad today. The problem is that the Colts were playing a team with a superhero at the quarterback position, and Jones was nothing more than average.
You don't pay a quarterback coming off an Achilles tear $88 million over two seasons to be just "not bad". You pay him to perform against the best teams in the biggest moments. Jones had some moments throughout this contest, but it was his backbreaking interception early on that really killed the Colts' momentum in this game.
Despite what the final score may say, Indy was leading at the start of this game, and they were the first to score. The offense was humming on its first drive. Then, Jackson drove the Ravens down the field and answered with a score of his own, and it was up to Jones to respond. He did so by throwing a pick to Ravens LB Roquan Smith, and Indy's implosion only continued from there.
Jones wasn't straight up bad today, he just wasn't good enough.
No. 3: K Spencer Shrader
Now, we can say that Jones's second drive interception was the momentum killer for Indianapolis, but the real first chink in the armor reared its ugly head for Indy when Spencer Shrader capped off a masterful first drive with a missed extra point.
By all accounts, Spencer Shrader did not win the starting kicking job throughout training camp and preseason as much as Blake Grupe lost it. Both kickers had struggles prior to the regular season, and it just so happened that Grupe had more. Those struggles continued for Shrader in Week 1.
He finished the game one-for-one on field goals (which was a 58-yard make)and two-for-three on extra points. He made just one mistake throughout the game, but as a kicker, that one mistake can mean the difference between victory and defeat.
One missed extra point most definitely was not the difference between winning and losing against Baltimore, but Shrader is going to have to tighten up his game if Indy is going to bounce back against Kansas City.
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