In Week 1, the Indianapolis Colts blew out the Miami Dolphins by 25 points. In Week 3, they trampled the Titans by 21 points. Finally, in Week 5, they trounced the Raiders in their worst thrashing of the season, outscoring Las Vegas by 34 points in a 40-6 blowout.
This is a team that not only beats bad teams, but they step on their throats from the very start and don't let up. The Colts are 1-1 against teams with winning records through five weeks, and those games have been close. However, any time this team has been faced with an inferior opponent, they have not failed to beat up on that opponent by less than three touchdowns.
Unfortunately for an Arizona Cardinals team that just had one of the worst late-game collapses in football history versus the (previously) 0-4 Titans, they are now faced with the prospect of an upcoming buzzsaw in Lucas Oil Stadium.
Everything about this game screams Colts blowout, but this is the NFL, and as we've seen time and time again, anything can happen. So, here are four bold predictions for the Colts' Week 6 outing against the Cardinals.
Prediction No. 1: Jonathan Taylor will put up another three-touchdown performance and retain his crown as the NFL's touchdown leader
Jonathan Taylor is on the most scorching pace of any running back in the entire NFL this season. Really, very few even come close. This is a player who is not only currently leading the league in touchdowns but also in rushing yards. That is some very rarified air in a league as talent-laden as the NFL.
Taylor has had two zero-touchdown games. However, he has had two three-touchdown games. Six of the seven total touchdowns he's scored this season have come in two games, and both were blowouts against inferior teams. In other words, when Taylor scores, he scores in bunches.
This Cardinals team is demoralized, and this may be rock bottom for the entirety of Kyler Murray's tenure in the desert. This is a team that just gave up 64 yards and a touchdown to Tony Pollard on a putrid Titans offense. Look for Taylor and the Colts' high-flying offense to capitalize.
Prediction No. 2: There will be yet another fumble through the endzone committed by a team in this game
In Week 4 versus the Rams, Adonai Mitchell famously fumbled the football through the end zone, shifting the momentum of the game in a cataclysmic way and resulting ultimately in a loss. In Week 5 of the NFL season, Cardinals running back Emari Demercado fumbled across the goal line, swinging the momentum and precipitating an all-time collapse in a loss against the Titans.
The fumble through the endzone is a rare play. The even rarer version of it is when it is caused by a player showboating too early. In fact, the last time that occurred before this season was when Jonathan Taylor famously dropped the ball before crossing the goal line against the Broncos in the 2024 season. These are two teams with a definite propensity for this disastrous play.
While it isn't likely to happen, these would be the two teams in the NFL to be the culprits of another instance of this bone-headed play. As fans, we can only hope that if it does happen again, it will be the Cardinals committing the turnover and not Indianapolis.
Prediction No. 3: Josh Downs will get into the end zone for the first time this season in spectacular fashion
The Colts have almost too many offensive weapons to even count. With the emergence of Ashton Dulin in this offense against the Raiders, the Colts feature a number of talented pass catchers, including the likes of Michael Pittman, Ashton Dulin, Adonai Mitchell, and (potentially) Alec Pierce when he returns. That's not even to mention rookie tight end phenom Tyler Warren.
In such a loaded offense, Josh Downs can sometimes get lost in the fold. In fact, Week 5 against the Raiders was his best outing, totaling 54 yards through the air. Still, he wasn't able to get into the endzone. With how good a game Ashton Dulin had against the Raiders, it wouldn't be a stretch to say he might garner more attention from the Cardinals than Downs will.
The prediction for Downs here is this: he will reel in a deep bomb catch and run (over 60 yards altogether) and get in the end zone on the play. This would not only give Downs his first score of the year, but would also give him his highest yardage in a game this season on only one catch.
In an offense this loaded, everybody has to wait their turn to eat, and Week 6 will feature Josh Downs' opportunity.
Prediction No. 4: Colts kicking woes continue
The lone sour note of Week 5's blowout of the Raiders was that Spencer Shrader will be out for the 2025 season after his knee was hit by safety Tristan McCollum. Since then, Indianapolis has signed kicker Michael Badgley to fill in for Shrader for the foreseeable future.
Badgley kicked for Indianapolis in 2021 and is returning to the team after not playing last year due to injury. Badgley is a fairly consistent kicker from within fifty yards, but unfortunately for Indy, he struggles outside of fifty, having a career mark of just five for 13 from that distance.
That's a pretty abysmal rate, especially when the acceptable distance for kickers seems to be moving further away significantly with every passing year. This prediction is that Badgley's limitations are going to rear their ugly head versus the Cardinals, and the kicker will miss either a field goal or an extra point.
Hopefully, this team is as good as we think it is, and the game will be in enough control that having that miss won't matter too much. However, against great teams, there are razor-thin margins that separate victory from defeat. Any points being missed out on could change a win to a loss, and it is imperative that Indy figure out its special teams in the post-Shrader reality that now exists.
Obviously, no Colts fan is wishing for Badgley to fail. If there's any prediction here that would most want to be wrong, it's this one (unless another Colts player fumbles through the endzone). With any luck, the Money Badger, as Badgley has affectionately been nicknamed, will live up to that label. This team will need a reliable kicker going forward if they want to truly compete.