Overview

In their second win of the season the Indianapolis Colts put together a 28 point win over a divisional opponent in the Houston Texans. Wins are always fun to watch but four score wins make for a fun and relaxing afternoon of Colts football. Let’s take a look at some of the best plays of the day.

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First Quarter

Defense made some stops

The defense started out as well as you could ask them to. The Texans offense isn’t very good and they’re starting a third round rookie at quarterback but the Colts defense still had to execute and they did just that most of the day.

T.Y. Hilton had a nice day

TY and Michael Pittman Jr. were the only two Colts who would have more than one reception today.

Julian Blackmon with the big hit

This fumble was eventually overturned but Blackmon looked like he was shot out of a cannon as he flew up field to make this play. It was good to see Blackmon make a play.

DeForest Buckner in on the action

Coming into week six Buckner only had one sack on the season. He’s dealt with a lot of different looks from blockers but the Colts other pass rushers have been unable to capitalize on the extra attention the talented DT has drawn. This week Buck got in and pulled down another sack, early on.

Great ball to the sideline

Carson Wentz only completed 11 for 20 passes but the 11 he completed were really impressive. Wentz tore the Texans cover 2 up hitting multiple intermediate throws to the sideline between a corner underneath and a safety over the top. There will be people who criticize the completion percentage, that’s fine, the balls he didn’t complete weren’t turnovers and the passes he did complete... well they were pretty cool.

Like this

Parris Campbell had not scored a touchdown since 2019 before this play. On this play the defender suffered a chest injury when he landed on Campbell’s foot. Also on this play Campbell hurt his foot when the defender’s chest landed on it. Parris Campbell might have the worst luck of any Colt I can remember and when he’s on the field the guy is exciting. Let’s hope he can get back out there soon.

Kenny Moore is a lot of fun to watch

Kenny Moore is undersized but if no one ever told you that, you probably wouldn’t notice given the way he plays. Screens to his side always seem to end similarly to this one.

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Second Quarter

Wentz dropping more bombs

T.Y. Hilton made a great catch and as is tradition he did it against the Texans. It was great to see 13 back out there.

Drive stalled

The Colts weren’t perfect on Sunday. The defense didn’t do a great job getting the Texans off the field on third downs allowing them to convert 9 of 17 attempts and the Colts converted just 3 of 10 third down tries. Ultimately the Texans lack of talent meant it didn’t matter but this is an area of the game that the Colts desperately need to improve going forward.

So close

Khari Willis will have nightmares about this play. Another angle showed that this catch would have been really difficult to make, either way I’m sure Willis would like another shot at it.

I’m giving you all four Hilton catches

Here is one of the Colts three, third down conversions on the day and it just so happens that TY was the guy to pick it up. Moving forward TY might become an excellent chain mover, a guy Wentz can always look to on third down, something this team hasn’t had so far in 2021.

Beating cover 2 again

Another great throw to MPJ on the sideline between defensive backs. Wentz made these throws look easy.

The Colts found more sack production but not from who you would expect

Khari Willis is now tied for fourth on the team with 1.5 sacks on the season. That’s not a great thing.

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Third Quarter

Second half started well

Davis Mills is a rookie. Darius Leonard is not. Leonard made the play that was given to him, but it was absolutely giftwrapped.

To the sideline, between defenders

These aren’t easy throws to make and Wentz killed the Texans with them today. Carson Wentz is confident, he looks comfortable in the system and these past three weeks he has looked like a quarterback most teams would happily give up a first and second round pick for.

Ugh Michael Pittman Jr.

For a receiver who is such a good blocker, he just didn’t do enough on this play to spring Jonathan Taylor for the 88 yard touchdown. Instead he had to settle for an 83 yard run and the plays that followed.

All’s well that ends well

The Colts gave Jonathan Taylor the ball four times in a row. On those four carries he totaled 88 yards and a touchdown. Sure 83 yards came on that one run but that doesn’t make it less impressive.

I forgot the “d” in Rodgers name in this tweet

But it’s okay because the second year corner from UMass brought the D when his number was called today.

I’ll see myself out, thanks.

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Fourth Quarter

Eric Fisher has been bad

He is an unmitigated disaster in pass protection. It’s really bad and there are no signs it’s improving.

Darius Leonard finishing the job

Darius Leonard is such an interesting player. Sometimes he’s frustrating on tape. Sometimes he makes multiple, positive, game changing plays in just a couple quarters of play. Leonard is one of those guys that you learn to live with some of the unpredictability because when he guesses right or punches a ball out like he did on this play, it makes everything else a non-issue.

It’s good to see him look healthy again, also.

Jonathan Taylor is a monster

Taylor finished the day with 14 carries for 145 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Texans are a bad football team but Taylor has good days against everyone when he gets the opportunity. I was really surprised when the Colts drafted Taylor but it sure does look like Taylor is the next great Colts running back.

Hilton probably shouldn’t have played

On one hand, he had to play, right. On the other hand he probably needed a week to get into game shape. Frank Reich called it a quad injury and said he didn’t believe it was serious. Coach Reich is a lot of things but a doctor he is not. We’ll all be waiting for news of Hilton’s status for next weeks game with baited breath.

Fisher did something right, hooray I guess.

If Eric Fisher was okay at anything today it was run blocking but I would much rather have an excellent pass blocker protecting Wentz’s blindside. Either way he made this block that allowed Hines to pick up the first and I wanted to give the devil his due.

Name a better 22 year old RB, I’ll wait.

Taylor with another six points.

Rodgers, really bringing the D this time

All of the “d” puns aside, Rodgers looked really good today after Rock Ya-Sin went out with an injury. This is a good sign for a team that desperately needs depth for a unit that has been so very injured during the first six weeks of the season.

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Final Thoughts

This was a game the Colts should have won. It was also a game they absolutely could not lose. Good teams blow out bad teams- I realize that seems like an obvious statement but I’ve read all the stat nerds articles on how mediocre teams let bad teams hang around while the good ones blow them out.

I won’t try to convince you that a 2-4 Colts team is a “good team” but I will say they played like one today. With the league more than one third of the way through the regular season, it’s not “early” anymore but the Colts still have time to right the ship. It would just be nice if the ship didn’t need quite so much righting.

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