The mark of a great team isn't just winning the tough games. The great teams don't sweat the also-rans. They take the field and take care of business. And the Indianapolis Colts have been taking care of business better than anyone.
Yes, of course, I had the Colts at 7-1 at the just-about halfway point this year (stupid 17-game seasons). Let me check the records...yep, there it is, 7-10, big as life. Or maybe 9-7 at the top. Somehow, I doubt that this team is going to collapse to anything resembling my lack of faith in them. That being said, they could use some help to stay at the top.
Sure, you can make an argument for a few other teams as the best in the league right now. The Chiefs may be just 5-3, but they've run off three straight wins, including an impressive beatdown of the 5-2 Lions (speaking of good teams).
The Chiefs, by the way, haven't lost to a team with a sub-500 record. The Patriots, Eagles, Chargers, and Bills have all dropped games to some of the worst teams in the league. Not so the Colts.
The Indianapolis Colts establish their dominance with ease
The only blemish on the Colts' record is that 20-27 loss to the Rams. Adonai Mitchell wasn't the only player who didn't come up big in the loss, but he wasn't exactly the star, either. The best teams overcome obstacles, though. But let's face it, we're not likely to ever see another undefeated team. Especially not with that stupid 17-game schedule. Yes, I'm going to stay salty about that forever.
Okay, back to the Colts. It isn't just that Indianapolis beats teams like Tennessee, Las Vegas, and Miami. They have put their collective foot on the neck of these teams and not let up for a moment.
The average score of those four games: Colts 38, Losers 12. The average yardage was 380 for Indy and just 254 for the bad guys. Of the four games, Tennessee came closest to Indianapolis in their second game, and that was a 21-point loss.
Those blowout wins help in a lot of ways. It's more than just getting backups on the field in an easy win. We tend to forget that the best athletes in the world are people, too. Yes, I'm including the 339-pound Jalen Travis in that group, because if I'm ever lucky enough to meet him, I don't want him to crush my tiny skull.
The point is, confidence matters to even the best athletes, not just us ordinary schmucks.
Now I'm not about to say that the Titans, Dolphins, or Raiders are good teams. Combined, they have two fewer wins than Indianapolis. But they're still NFL teams. They're still stocked with the best football players in the world.
Yeah, yeah, it's an American sport, but there's the Canadian Football League, the United Football League, and multiple leagues in Europe. Even the bad teams have great players, relatively speaking.
So when the Colts smack around teams like the Raiders without breaking a sweat, it means more than just another number in the W column. That confidence builds and keeps building. Confidence has a lot to do with the success of Daniel Jones this year. That, plus decent coaching. But that's not the most important takeaway.
This is. You don't give away games to bad teams when every win matters. When you're fighting for home-field advantage, the best teams don't let the chance to put another mark in the win column slip away. Postseason football in Indianapolis will be a lot more fun than in Buffalo. And beating bad teams is one of the best ways to make that happen.