Colts snap counts vs. Jaguars: Week 17

OFFENSE

This was a rather unspectacular day for the Colts’ quarterback position. Philip Rivers led the way but failed to even reach 200 yards passing against a pretty awful defense. Jacoby Brissett again had chances to run the short-yardage offense and again that package looks good for QB sneaks but otherwise has been awful.

P Rivers QB 63 94%
J Brissett QB 4 6%

Oh my goodness, did Jonathan Taylor have a huge day or what? Taylor rushed 30 times for 253 yards and two rushing touchdowns. The only other carries credited to a Colts offensive player were two carries for Nyheim Hines, two carries for Brissett from the aforementioned short-yardage package, one carry for Michael Pittman Jr. on an end-around, and two kneel-downs for Rivers to put the game on ice.

What a huge day for Taylor. The rookie has been trending up and has been dominating every opponent, and that is behind an offensive line that has been playing a version of musical chairs over the last few weeks.

J Taylor RB 55 82%
N Hines RB 12 18% 7 25%

The tight end position hasn’t been near as involved with Philip Rivers under center as fans may have anticipated. The best news for this unit is that Jack Doyle has broken out of an early-season slump to become the blue-collar check-down safety blanket he has been for years. Very little has been there for Mo Alie-Cox despite a strong start to the season and Trey Burton has been disappointing to this point as well. Unless there is a big turnaround in the playoffs, the Colts will have to do some real thinking on how to get more mileage out of the position moving forward.

J Doyle TE 43 64% 4 14%
M Alie-Cox TE 29 43% 6 21%
T Burton TE 20 30% 4 14%

When your running back rushes for over 250 yards there isn’t a lot of food left on the table for receivers. In fact, the leading receiver in both receptions and yards was running back Nyheim Hines who finished with six receptions for 50 yards. T.Y. Hilton tied with Hines for the team lead with seven targets but caught only three of those passes for 27 yards and a touchdown. The next receiver was Zach Pascal with two receptions on four targets for 41 yards. The only other receiver to do anything was Michal Pittman Jr who caught both of his targets for 28 yards.

M Pittman WR 58 87% 3 11%
Z Pascal WR 56 84% 3 11%
T Hilton WR 44 66%
A Dulin WR 16 24% 16 57%
D Patmon WR 2 3%

Jared Veldheer played every offensive snap after signing with the Colts days before the important Week 17 match up with the Jaguars. He represents the best left tackle option on the team, which is saying something given he joined with such little time to prepare. While the Jaguars don’t represent nearly the challenge the Buffalo Bills will present in the wild card playoff round, it bodes well that he looked so comfortable under the circumstances.

M Glowinski G 67 100% 6 21%
Q Nelson G 67 100% 6 21%
B Smith T 67 100% 6 21%
R Kelly C 67 100%
J Veldheer T 67 100%

DEFENSE

Perhaps the two biggest surprises in this one were that Denico Autry out-snapped DeForest Buckner and that Kemoko Turay had his best game of the season. Turay has waited all year to get back into shape and try to produce similar to his strong start to the 2019 season and finally got something going on Sunday. He finished the game with a sack and led the team with three quarterback hits on a total of 15 defensive snaps.

Buckner had another multi-sack game and led the team with two sacks on the day. This separated Buckner from the rest of the team and ends his season as the leader in sacks with 9.5. Pro Bowl snub indeed.

D Autry DE 52 80% 2 7%
D Buckner DT 45 69% 12 43%
A Muhammad DE 40 62%
J Houston DE 39 60%
G Stewart NT 31 48% 12 43%
T Lewis DE 27 42% 5 18%
K Turay DE 15 23%
T Stallworth DT 11 17% 6 21%

Darius Leonard quietly had a monster game against the Jaguars. He led the team with 10 tackles, produced a sack, two passes defended and forced a fumble. What is arguably somewhat concerning is that Bobby Okereke has gone awfully quiet for a while and it appears that Anthony Walker Jr. isn’t completely healthy.

D Leonard LB 65 100% 1 4%
B Okereke LB 44 68%
A Walker LB 30 46% 7 25%

Another Pro Bowl snub, shame on the Pro Bowl for not recognizing the nickel position on the roster, Kenny Moore finished second to Leonard with eight tackles, picked up a sack and a tackle for loss. T.J. Carrie tallied five tackles and a fumble recovery. Xavier Rhodes hasn’t been filling up the stat sheet with big plays recently, something that he’ll need to rediscover against Josh Allen and a talents Buffalo Bills receiving core.

K Moore CB 65 100% 3 11%
X Rhodes CB 65 100%
T Carrie CB 56 86% 6 21%

After a relatively quiet string of games, Julian Blackmon showed signs of life again with five tackles, including one for a loss. The biggest surprise this season has been that special teams ace George Odum saw rotational action the last two years but has been relegated only to coverage teams, even when injuries or illnesses have opened up opportunities.

T Wilson SS 65 100% 11 39%
J Blackmon FS 65 100% 4 14%

SPECIAL TEAMS

Rodrigo Blankenship didn’t finish the season as he likely would have hoped. He went hit two out of his four field goal attempts. The two he missed were from 49 and 56 yards. He had the distance to hit the 49-yard attempt but didn’t have the leg to hit the 56-yard try. One of the things Blankenship could benefit from this off-season is a full and healthy strength and conditioning regiment to work on his leg strength. Outside of this one notable weakness in his game, he had a spectacular rookie season.

G Odum FS 22 79%
M Adams LB 22 79%
Z Franklin LB 22 79%
J Glasgow LB 18 64%
R Sanchez P 14 50%
T Smith CB 13 46%
I Rodgers CB 13 46%
E Speed LB 12 43%
I Campbell FS 12 43%
L Rhodes LS 10 36%
R Blankenship K 8 29%
D Pinter G 6 21%
C Green T 6 21%