The Indianapolis Colts entered Week 3 desperately looking for their first win of the season. The biggest X-factor was always going to be quarterback Daniel Jones, who needed to find a way to overcome a talented Houston defense.
This was the perfect moment for a standout Jones performance against a division rival in a must-win game. That’s not at all what happened. Jones made plenty of mistakes, and the Colts’ offense was held to under 20 points by the Texans.
Despite the missteps on offense, Jones did just enough at the start of the game to give Indianapolis an early lead. Then, the Colts’ defense bailed him out the rest of the way to hang on to the victory. It wasn’t pretty, but it was a much-needed win.
Daniel Jones takeaways that decided Colts’ Week 3 win against the Houston Texans
The good: A solid first half from Daniel Jones
Fast starts have been a trend for Jones and the Indianapolis offense this season. The Colts scored touchdowns on their opening drives against Baltimore and Kansas City. While they couldn’t replicate that in Week 3, the majority of the first half was still positive.
After fumbling the ball on the fourth play of the game, Jones quickly bounced back and led Indianapolis to scores on their next 3 drives — two field goals and a touchdown pass to wide receiver Keenan Allen.
Jones played the best football of his season so far on those 3 drives. Besides the strip-sack, he looked poised against Houston’s ferocious pass rush and delivered strike after strike to Allen, wideout Josh Downs, and tight end Tyler Warren. Jones also truly showed off his legs for the first time post-Achilles injury on a diving third-down conversion.
Most importantly, Jones played well and kept the offense humming even though star running back Jonathan Taylor had a quiet game. Jones wasn’t by any means electric in the first half, but he got enough points on the board to secure a halftime lead.
The bad: Turnovers, bad decisions, and poor accuracy in the second half
The second half of Sunday’s game could not have gone differently — or worse, for that matter — for Jones. It started with the reckless decision to chuck the ball down the field, while in field goal range, to the waiting hands of Houston safety Reed Blankenship.
The Colts’ next possession was a three-and-out. Then they stalled in the red zone before Jones was stripped for the second time. Across each of those drives, the most common concerns about Jones’ game all popped up. We saw bad decision-making lead to turnovers, a lack of awareness in the pocket when facing pressure, and errant throws missing open receivers.
In other words, it was a complete 180 from the first half and gifted the Texans their first lead of the game late in the 4th quarter. Jones did wake up on the final drive of the game, connecting with wide receiver Laquon Treadwell for a 20-yard completion that set up the game-winning field goal.
While the ending was fortunate, the Colts only found themselves in a tough situation because Jones’ chaotic performance turned what could have been an easy win into a much closer game.
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