The Indianapolis Colts are 2-0 for the first time since 2009. That seems like such a long time because even bad teams can accidentally win their first two games in any given season. Indy hasn't always been bad, either.
After destroying the Miami Dolphins in Week 1, the Colts played a difficult Denver Broncos team and came from behind (at the very last second) to beat the Broncos 29-28. This is despite head coach Shane Steichen's extremely weird decisions at times.
Twice, he decided to go for it on fourth and shot around midfield instead of playing things safe. Going for a first down in such situations can sometimes make sense, as aggressiveness is not a bad thing. But in Week 2's scenario, Steichen was almost asking for Denver to take advantage and have his team fall behind.
Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor saves Shane Steichen from himself
Punting the ball and playing defense isn't a bad idea much of the time.
But the fourth down decisions paled in comparison to the head coach's incomprehensible idea to shut down his offense near the Broncos' 40-yard line near the end of the game. Indy had timeouts to spend and enough time to try to get further down the field. Steichen appeared bent on setting his new kicker up to make a 60-yard field goal to try to win the game.
After getting to near the 40, Steichen called three straight run plays up the middle with running back Jonathan Taylor. Denver was fully aware of what Indy was going to do and stuffed each run for nearly no gain. A safe pass might have stopped the clock, but potentially given Indy better field position.
Perhaps Shane Steichen was relying too much on a player who is arguably the best running back in the NFL, and had already had a terrific game up until that point. Taylor ran for 165 yards on 25 carries, but he had also run for 165 yards on 22 carries until Steichen got far too conservative.
The coach's decisions made it almost seem as if he lost where his offense was on the field. Maybe he thought the Colts were at the 30 and not the 40. Assuming your kicker is going to make a 60-yard field goal when they had never made one from 50 in a real game is a horrible assumption.
In fact, kicker Spencer Shrader did miss the 60-yarder. Fortunately for Indianapolis, the Denver Broncos had a foolish penalty as time ran out and gave Sharder another chance from 45 yards. The kicker made that one.
But the Indianapolis Colts' offense overall, especially Taylor, who had 215 total yards, and Spencer Shrader, deserved better than to be put in a position to lose an otherwise winnable game. Thank goodness for the Broncos' bad penalty, or Shane Steichen would have a lot of questions to answer after Week 2.