Sometimes it is better if one's favorite team simply gets blown out, and the awfulness begins early in the game. Close losses, such as the one the Indianapolis Colts suffered against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 4, are far worse. The team could have won except for a couple of heartbreaking plays.
Both were from wide receiver Adonai Mitchell. The second-year player, who hasn't accomplished much in his short career yet, blew the game. Would Indianapolis be 4-0 had Mitchell not done two specific things? Maybe. Taking him out of the game would obviously alter reality.
Still, Mitchell made a nice catch and was about to score a 75-yard touchdown when he dropped the ball ahead of the goal line. The play was reminiscent of what happened to star running back Jonathan Taylor in 2024. Are the Colts cursed? Maybe.
Indianapolis Colts' Shane Steichen's comment on AD Mitchell don't make things better
The second play was less cringe-worthy, but just as effecting. In the fourth quarter, Taylor had a touchdown run of 53 yards called back because of a poor Mitchell hold. The wide receiver literally took away two touchdowns for Indy. Instead of 20 points, Indianapolis could have easily had 34.
That's the specific number that head coach Shane Steichen mentioned after the game, too. Like most of the players after the game, the coach limited the negative he said about AD Mitchell. Complaining too much about what Mitchell did would be wrong. Everyone could see the plays unfold, and the receiver obviously felt terrible about his errors.
Speaking to the media after the game, Steichen said, "It's hard to explain in that situation, but we've got a lot of faith in AD. And this is a bump in the road for him, (and) he's gonna bounce back. And we've got a lot of confidence in his abilities."
That is clearly a lot of cliche in order to get through answering a reporter's question as quickly as possible. The problem was that other reporters were going to follow up wanting even more information.
Answering another question about penalties, Steichen said a lot of the problems were happening in the red zone, and the issues needed to be cleaned up. He then said, "There were a couple (of drives) where we could have had 34 with touchdowns."
While the answer might have been slightly absent-minded, 34 is exactly what the Indianapolis Colts would have had if Adonai Mitchell had not made two brutal errors. One wasn't a penalty, but it wasn't a physical mistake. The wide receiver should have simply held onto the ball tightly until he was in the end zone. The holding penalty was a fundamental breakdown.
The bad part is that AD Mitchell's terrible game came when he finally got a chance to get more reps because Alec Pierce missed the game while in concussion protocol. When Pierce returns, as soon as Week 5, Mitchell needs to go back to the bench. Had Pierce played for the Colts versus the Rams, Indy might very well be undefeated still.