Several of the demons that have plagued the Indianapolis Colts dating back to the middle of last season reared their heads in Sunday’s 34-22 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Colts struggled to defend the middle of the field and gave up several crushing chunk plays to a fairly vanilla Pittsburgh offense.
On the other side of the ball, the offense could not come up with enough big plays of their own to force Pittsburgh to back off its aggressive tactics. Consequently, Indy struggled again to move the ball consistently. Daniel Jones is either missing Alec Pierce more than we could possibly know, or he simply is still shaking off rust from last year’s Achilles injury. Chances are, both things are true.
The bottom line is that this team remains where it has been stuck for much of the Chris Ballard era. Apart from the sensational run at the beginning of 2025, it is a club consistently in the low-middle. They have enough talent to stay in games and win some.
Three Indianapolis Colts who must do well in Week 6
But neither the talent nor the scheme is good enough to win consistently. So Indy sits at 2-3. They have won 47% of their games since Ballard took over as GM in 2017. And they remain in that a-little-below-average space ten years later.
Shane Steichen gets the winless Tennessee Titans at home in Week 6, so the club’s chances of getting back to .500 look good. But if they don’t begin fixing some lingering problems, there’s no guarantee they'll beat the Titans.
Since these problems have, in fact, lingered, we won’t simply rehash them yet again. Today, we will focus on something a little different. Today, we will look at some members of the club who are counted on to produce better results than we have seen so far in 2026.
These are bedrock individuals who need to step up as the team struggles to find its footing. In other words, it’s easy to blame rookies and unheralded players for the club's problems. That’s not what we’re doing today.
Cam Bynum, S
This season got off to a miserable start for Bynum and the entire defense. They were rolled by the Baltimore Ravens. Bynum was pressed into service as the green dot defender, meaning he was tasked with relaying signals from the sidelines to the rest of the defense. That job typically goes to a linebacker, who is centrally positioned. Bynum, as free safety, typically lines up much deeper on the field. Baltimore ran up more than 500 total yards and hung 41 points on the Colts that day.
The green dot duties are gone, but Bynum has not bounced back. His current Pro Football Focus (subscription required) grade is 58.4, down more than a dozen points from last year and just around the lowest grade of his career. I suspect concerns about the unpredictability of his fellow safeties and linebackers have led to his diminished play.
Whatever the reason, the Colts continue to give up fatal chunk plays, like the two they surrendered to the Steelers' Jaylen Warren last week. Two plays – 130 yards – two touchdowns. Plays like that usually fall on the central defenders – especially on the deep safety whose Job 1 is to stop the bleeding when an offense gashes a defense.
I think young players like AJ Haulcy and Justin Walley are actually taking some baby steps toward respectability, but the veteran Bynum is still invisible on too many plays.
Bernhard Raimann, OT
Like Bynum, Raimann hasn’t exactly been bad this year. He just hasn’t been nearly as good as the Colts need him to be. Looking again at PFF ratings puts this into stark relief. Raimann has been graded at over 80 in his last three seasons. That is elite territory, and it usually places the left tackle in or near the top ten in the entire NFL.
This year, over five weeks, he has a 68.5 grade. That’s still respectable, but it is closer to the high middle than the top ten. This coincides with reduced grades for his fellow tackle, Jalen Travis, and center Tanor Bortolini.
Jonathan Taylor currently has a yards-per-rush average of 3.9. He has never been below 4.4 in his entire career. Last year, he was a full yard better, at 4.9. Daniel Jones does not look nearly as comfortable as he did last season. The offense, which relies on the line heavily, is sputtering as several key linemen, led by Raimann, fail to play up to the elite level.
Shane Steichen, head coach and play caller
I realize Alec Pierce is out, thus taking away the Colts' most explosive deep weapon. And I realize that Jones is rusty. I just noted that the O-line is not hitting on all cylinders. There are personnel problems up and down the roster, and the offense is not immune.
This is exactly why, presumably, elite offensive minds get paid a lot of money and snag so many head coaching jobs. They are supposed to figure out ways to generate offense despite shortcomings. Steichen has failed to do that this season.
This team still has Jonathan Taylor and Tyler Warren, Josh Downs, and a good offensive line (present struggles notwithstanding). Stubbornly plunging JT into the line in short-yardage situations isn’t working. Going deep to Laquon Treadwell, and virtually no one else, is marginally successful. Where is the creativity we were promised?
Pierce has missed all or part of four games this year, and Indy has seemed helpless to respond. They are averaging more than 50 fewer yards per game and more than a full yard less per play. Those numbers are not very good. Most importantly, though, they are scoring rushing touchdowns at about the same rate as last year, but they are almost a full passing touchdown under last season’s number.
Maybe Darius Salyton can finally make his debut. Maybe Anthony Gould, who has been a non-factor as a receiver in his career, can do some damage. His return game has looked much better in recent weeks. Maybe a bit less predictability would help.
Practice squad running back Davon Booth was a pretty good pass catcher in college. Maybe it’s time to give him a shot. Steichen needs to find some answers because this defense is still a work in progress, and the Colts cannot afford a run-of-the-mill offense.
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