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Overview
On December 2nd, 2018 the Indianapolis Colts will travel to face the Jacksonville Jaguars. In this week thirteen match-up, I sought to understand our opponent and get a better idea of how they may attack our new-look Colts.
The last time these two teams faced off was just three weeks ago when our Colts came away with a close victory. Since that day the Jaguars have fired their offensive coordinator, benched their starting quarterback, they’ve placed a $13,000,000 per year guard on injured reserve and they are seriously starting Ereck Flowers at left tackle. What a magical time to be alive.
Let’s figure out what we can expect in week thirteen.
Special Teams
Kicker:
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Josh Lambo has turned his career around in Jacksonville. Before being signed by the Jags, Lambo was a career 81% field goal kicker and was 90% on extra points. Since being signed midway through 2017 he has hit 97% of his field goals and 94% of his extra point tries.
This season Josh Lambo has been perfect in every game except for his week ten game against our Colts. Lambo missed both an extra point and a field goal. Had he made those kicks, the Jags would have won the game. I don’t think Lambo missed because he was playing the Colts, so we can’t expect that he’s going to miss again this week and he’s still one of the best kickers in the league.
I would still rather have Vini.
Punter:
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Logan Cooke only punted three times in our week ten matchup, which was tied for the second fewest punts the Jaguars have had in a game this season. That’s not great for our Colts, what’s worse is Cooke’s 44.0 net yard average. A 44 yard net is good, but I would take it if we can force more than three punts this week.
Cody Kessler might grant us more opportunities to cut into that average this week, but if the defense doesn’t play better than in week ten, he might surprise us all.
Returner:
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Dede Westbrook will return punts and D.J. Chark will return kicks. Both return spots were filled by Jaydon Mickens before suffering an ankle injury that ended his season.
Chark returned three kicks and had an average of 36 yards per return and a long of 47 yards. Chark was effective as a returner and I don’t expect anything different this week.
Westbrook, only had one opportunity to return a punt and he only gained one yard. He is a much better returner than the Colts allowed, it will be an accomplishment if they can keep him in check again this week.
Final Thoughts for The Week:
It’s rare in a road divisional game that so many people are predicting a blowout. I don’t think given the Jags lack of an NFL caliber offense, that the Colts lose this game. With that said this Jags defense is good enough to keep the game close and in the event of a one score game, anything can happen.
Prediction
Colts 17
Jags 10
Draft Watch
When I started the Draft Watch back up, the Colts were 1-5 and staring at a top 5 pick. I had hopes that somehow, someway they would climb out of the basement and find their way to a pick in the mid 20’s. I hoped that would happen, I didn’t think there was actually a chance it would happen.
Right now the Colts are the 7th seed, just outside of the last wildcard spot. As of today the Colts, according to Tankathon, are slotted to draft 18th which wouldn’t have seemed possible a month and a half ago. After this week’s slate of games they will be slotted anywhere from 13th to 24th. The next few weeks draft slotting will start to work itself out and we’ll have a much better idea who will be drafting where. In the meantime let’s hope for more Colts wins.