Colts Run Dominant

If Frank Reich tried, it’d be tough for the Indianapolis Colts coach to script a better performance than the one his team delivered on Sunday in its 31-7 trouncing of the Jacksonville Jaguars. 

The defense was dominant. The offense did just about anything in wanted. And Adam Vinatieri looked like his old self, drilling all five of his kicks in what will absolutely go down as one of his best performances of the season. 

But while Vinatieri, the defense and a healthy Jacoby Brissett were good, this game won’t be remembered for any of that. It will be remembered as the day the Colts ran the ball right down the Jaguars’ throats. 

Led by Jonathan Williams — who replaced an injured Marlon Mack in the third quarter — the Colts piled up an extraordinary 266 yards on the ground.  

Williams ran for 116 yards on 13 carries, while Mack compiled 109 yards and a sensational touchdown on 14 carries. Brissett added a rushing touchdown of his own to put the cherry on top of their best rushing game of the season. 

The Colts also put an end to a few streaks on Sunday with their victory. The first was the two-game losing streak. The second was the winless streak without star receiver T.Y. Hilton. Before Sunday, the Colts had lost all seven games without him. Finally, their 33-13 rout was the first game not decided by one score.

With the running game the Colts boasted Sunday, he wasn’t asked to do much, but Brissett made all the plays he was supposed to and none of the plays he wasn’t (excluding a relatively meaningless interception at the end of the game).

In his return from a seven-quarter absence, Brissett threw for 148 yards and a touchdown, while contributing 12 yards and a touchdown of his own on the ground. Better than the stats for the Colts was that Brissett looked healthy while playing on a knee with a recently sprained MCL.

On his touchdown pass to Marcus Johnson, he escaped pressure and bought enough time to find his receiver in the corner of the end zone. And on his scramble, while Brissett isn’t going to blow anyone away with his speed, he had plenty to beat the Jaguars defenders to the front corner of the end zone without taking a hit. 

With Brissett back under, the Colts played like the team they looked like before the two-game losing streak. They looked like a team under control and ready to make a serious run at the playoffs.