Rayders Played Agains the Colts Last Sunday

INDIANAPOLIS -- x quick thoughts on the Colts' 23-20 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders at Lucas Oil Stadium:

i. This game, quite merely, tin can be summed upwards by a Colts offense that wasn't ready to go off a primetime road win, with eight starters moving in and out of the lineup over the past week. They had 8 yards past the time the 2-minute warning hitting, and they really only had one drive of clean production with one 46-thousand touchdown coming off a tipped ball in double coverage. The Colts could accept survived the bad teams playing this mode, simply the Raiders are scrapping for the playoffs and had the quarterback and kicker to get it done on the route. And that's what they did when Derek Carr led the Raiders downwards in the final minute to set up Daniel Carlson'due south 33-thousand game-winning field goal.

Carson Wentz struggles subsequently a week without practice

ii. The Colts were lucky to have Carson Wentz available in this game subsequently the NFL revised its protocols to permit unvaccinated players to return subsequently five days of isolation, just his absence didn't come at no cost. Wentz didn't exercise this week, instead doing his work on Zoom in squad meetings just, and the passing game's first to this game looked that way. Wentz was 1 for 7 to start out, often trying to survive collapsing pockets but also leaving the ball too high to Zach Pascal on a 3rd-and-long. This goes beyond Wentz, of course, as he had a third-down conversion to Mo Alie-Cox that got chosen back for an illegal formation call on Braden Smith, who also missed the week of practice on the COVID-nineteen listing. It's been an efficient first season in Indianapolis for Wentz, but games like this and the ones early in the twelvemonth after the missed fourth dimension in training camp bear witness merely how much his preparation with Frank Reich, Marcus Brady and a total complement of starters has played into getting him into a healthy place.

3. The reason that preparation and repetition matters so much is it allows a plan to come together smoothly and with the confidence of all the players running it. Wentz, Reich and Brady have all spoken nigh how much rhythm matters to the confidence of everyone involved, and that manifested itself on a two-minute drive to finish the beginning half. Starting from the 40, Wentz completed a 5-g dump-off to Nyheim Hines before hurrying upwards and launching his get-go legitimate completion of the solar day, a 22-yard over road to Mo Alie-Cox. Of a sudden, the Colts were in hurry-up mode and Wentz was feeling information technology. He completed seven direct passes on the drive, moving 59 yards in 75 seconds. Capping it off with a 1-k Jonathan Taylor touchdown run was the perfect style to plant momentum for an criminal offense that had zero of it all week up until that point.

4. Frank Reich seemed to sense how much that moment mattered for his offense and for his chances of scoring today, every bit he decided to run Taylor fifty-fifty with no timeouts and the clock at less than 10 seconds. Had the Colts pulled it out, that would take been the pivotal score. Taylor, who finished with 108 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries, is clearly the MVP of this team. He gave them a chance with a passing game that was expressionless today outside of i lucky 45-yard touchdown off a missed interception.

Kenny Moore struggles vs. Raiders

five. Kenny Moore 2 has had a remarkable flavor as one of the most-targeted cornerbacks in football. He'due south heading to his first Pro Bowl, and deservedly and then, as he's become the gum for a turnover-dependent defense force suffering a bunch of injuries in the secondary. Merely he's human, also, and from the start of this game, he didn't seem ready to play his best football game. He gave upwardly a number of completions underneath that allowed Carr to get into a rhythm, and he got beat twice by Hunter Renfrow in the fourth quarter, one for a touchdown and one for the 24-yard gain on the last bulldoze that prepare the game-winning field goal. The Colts are built to win on defence force with Moore II, Darius Leonard and DeForest Buckner playing similar stars, and they unremarkably do. When ane has an off game, this team becomes more vulnerable than they might normally appear.

6. Isaiah Rodgers is playing his best football game right now, and it's become enormous for a Colts team that only has to alive without a pass rush for this playoff push. His interception came on a fade route against DeSean Jackson in 1-on-1 coverage. It was a play where Carr, much like Tom Brady a few weeks before him, only assumed his fastest receiver would win deep against a 2nd-year, sixth-round cornerback. Instead, Rodgers ran the route for Jackson and hauled in the choice. Rodgers' speed has never been in question. It's what got him drafted to be the Colts' kick returner. But at present he'south showing the ball skills that earned him 11 picks in college, also as the confidence that has come through a tight-nit cornerbacks room that keeps producing gems. His power to cover teams' speediest outside receivers with Moore II in the slot will help raise this squad's ceiling.

7. If nosotros're beingness honest, Rodgers is a better thespian right now than Xavier Rhodes, even every bit the latter has settled in on his way back from a nagging dogie injury. Rhodes seemed to get away with a defensive pass interference call in this one, and then he left the game with a hamstring injury and did not return. Rhodes has helped these younger cornerbacks along as a steady veteran in his two years in Indianapolis, but it's off-white to wonder how much he has left in the tank as the injuries take piled up. Luckily for the Colts, they're at a point where they tin feel good with Rodgers and Stone Ya-Sin on the outsides, given their growth as players as well as Moore Ii's every bit the communicator of the secondary.

eight. Darius Leonard continues to exercise Darius Leonard things. He punched the ball out from quarterback Marcus Mariota like he has all flavour long, simply it rolled out of bounds. Just then he baited Carr into a choice across the middle, much like he did to Mac Jones a few weeks earlier, except he's doing information technology to i of the amend quarterbacks this fourth dimension. It's a shame Leonard missed concluding calendar week's game against the Cardinals, not because the Colts needed him that game merely because it cost him a chance at a couple of possibilities. With fourteen turnovers forced, he's three off the all-time single-season tape set up past Chicago Bears Marker Carrier in 1990. Had he played against the Cardinals and forced at least one in that game, he'd be in a spot to tie that record confronting a lowly Jaguars team, and if he did, that'd exist quite the case for AFC Defensive Player of the Year. It'south a Pro Bowl season and likely another All-Pro season for him equally it is, but I know how much he wanted a chance at that award. However, as impressive as he was for most of this, Leonard will also lament the gamble he had on 3rd-and-10 to sack Derek Carr, when he jumped also early on and Carr got off the conversion to Renfrow to set upward the game-winner.

Was this T.Y. Hilton's concluding game at Lucas Oil Stadium?

9. This calendar week held an elephant in the room with T.Y. Hilton playing potentially his final game at Lucas Oil Stadium. Hilton didn't become much into that this week, though he did tell me he'd consult with Jack Doyle this offseason and base of operations his determination to render or retire on Doyle'south. Doyle played Sunday after missing the week of practice, which added to the intrigue of the moment. Hilton was on the game program and was the last starter the Colts introduced in the pre-game. It'due south at to the lowest degree a strong possibility if non final, and Hilton establish a way to create another moment with the 46-one thousand touchdown he caught off a Wentz pass that should have been intercepted in double coverage. He should accept had another explosive play in the 4th quarter simply Wentz missed him over the top. Hilton'south leadership has been vital for the Colts all season, and it was neat to run into him get one more touchdown dance in front of the dwelling house fans.

More:T.Y. Hilton wows with tipped-pass TD catch from Colts QB Carson Wentz against Raiders

10. The instability along the offensive line over the by week defenseless up some to the Colts in this one. Matt Pryor did a fine chore filling in at left tackle for Eric Fisher, who is a liability in pass protection as it is, but the line as a whole did not consistently open up run lanes the fashion they normally do for the NFL's leading rusher. Jonathan Taylor created some big runs with his vision and speed to the edge, but the between-the-tackles run game was not overly smoothen. Smith had a tough solar day in pass protection equally well as run blocking, every bit he was flagged for multiple penalties and was beaten by Yannick Ngakoue for a sack. It's to exist expected when players are in and out of practice and games and likewise dealt with some sickness over the by week, but this was a tough matchup to have that kind of instability after Wentz had the week of practice off.

Contact Indianapolis Colts insider Nate Atkins at natkins@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @NateAtkins_.

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Source: https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/nfl/colts/2022/01/02/10-quick-thoughts-on-the-colts-loss-to-the-las-vegas-raiders/9021519002/

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