5 Colts takeaways after the first game of the season
Gambling on a young secondary was a mistake
One of GM Chris Ballard’s most controversial offseason moves was the decision to trust the young and unproven defensive backs already on the roster rather than bring in new starter-level talent. Even after a challenging campaign last year, Ballard still felt confident that an extra year of development and better health were the only solutions needed.
One week into the 2024 season, and that approach is clearly not working. Stroud sliced and diced his way through the Indianapolis secondary, constantly finding holes in the Colts’ zone coverage. The Indianapolis DBs played soft far too often, frequently allowing easy catches underneath. They were also consistently outdueled in 1-on-1 matchups, and made plenty of rookie mistakes that created huge pockets of space for the Texans’ receivers.
These are predictable pain points for an inexperienced secondary that starts two sophomore cornerbacks and a third-year safety, but the Colts have done little to address the problem.
Run defense is this team's biggest red flag right now
Despite missed opportunities on offense and unforced errors in pass defense, the Colts still had a chance to win this game — if they could have stopped the run. Houston running back Joe Mixon stampeded over the Indianapolis defense to the tune of 159 rushing yards... his most productive performance in nearly 3 years by the way.
The Colts had no answer to the ground game, and the Texans knew it. Mixon had a career-high 30 carries, including a touchdown and a few game-clinching runs down the stretch, as his new team kept feeding him the ball with tremendous success.
Indianapolis has some talented run-stoppers on defense, but gaping holes at the line of scrimmage and missed tackles are a recipe for disaster. The scary part for the Colts is what lies ahead: Josh Jacobs (next week), Travis Etienne Jr., De’Von Achane, Breece Hall, and Jahmyr Gibbs all await in 2024. This could be a long season for the run defense.