The good and bad from Colts’ painful season-ending loss to Texans
The bad from Colts’ loss to Texans
Coverage on Nico Collins
Texans QB CJ Stroud was down three receivers for this game. Tank Dell is on IR and Noah Brown and Robert Woods were ruled out prior to the game. That left them with Collins, John Metchie, and Dalton Schultz as the main pass catchers. Nico Collins had his best game of the season and showed what the future for a Stroud/Collins tandem will look like for years to come. Collins caught all nine of his targets for 195 yards and one touchdown.
The touchdown was a blown coverage that deflated any momentum the Colts had from their first drive. Credit to the Texans staff and Stroud for going right at this weak Colts secondary from the very first play. They knew it was our weakness and made it known that was the game plan very early and Gus Bradley did not have a plan to stop it. This secondary has not improved and a change in voice might be necessary if anything can be fixed.
Gardner Minshew
Gardner Minshew, the ultimate game manager quarterback, was unable to execute big throws in big moments on Saturday night. He missed two huge throws that would have changed the course of the game. The first throw he missed was a pass to Mo Alie-Cox that would have given them an easy touchdown or at least set us up for a walk-in TD from Taylor. Instead, he missed the throw by a yard or two and Alie-Cox was unable to bring it in. Steichen executed the proper call, Alie-Cox did his job but Minshew couldn’t deliver the throw.
His second missed throw was, of course, the 4th and 1, where he tossed the ball behind running back Tyler Goodson and he was unable to make the catch, as he had to twist his body to try to make the catch. It’s a simple throw that should have been made. The catch is made then we talk about how Minshew made up for the missed pass on Alie-Cox earlier but again, he missed a simple throw that any professional quarterback should be able to make in a big moment, especially a veteran one like Minshew.