Colts’ Stat of the Game: Week 2 @Jaguars

The Simple: Colts get shutout again in Jacksonville

There is one simple number to describe why the Colts to the Jaguars on Sunday, and that number is zero. The Colts scored no points against the Jaguars, and when you do that, most of the times, you end up losing. The offense looked anemic, Ryan looked scared, the offensive line got overwhelmed on what seemed like every other play, the receivers did not get any separation... everything that could go wrong went wrong on offense for the Colts.

The Complicated: Trevor Lawrence pressured on just 10% of dropbacks, Matt Ryan holds the ball the third longest, Jonathan Taylor gets just 9 carries, Kenny Moore allows 4 catches on 4 targets.

There were several other stats that show just how abysmal the Colts’ play was on Sunday. The first one is that Trevor Lawrence dropped back to pass the ball 30 times, and he was pressured on just 3 of them. The Colts got pressure on just 10% of the Jaguars’ passing attempts. This is an offensive line that looked terrible against the Commanders, allowing pressure on every single play, yet the Colts (who invested a lot on the defensive line) just could not get any sort of consistent pressure.

Without the Colts top two receivers, it seemed like a wise choice to scheme the passing game like the Jaguars were doing, and what little times they did it seemed to work just fine, with quick hitters and having Ryan get rid of the ball quickly. Instead, Ryan took the third longest time to get the ball off this week, a recipe for disaster. Blame the head coach for not calling quick passes or RPOs, blame Ryan for trying to force things, or blame the receivers for not getting separation. Whatever way, the Colts need to be able to execute better than this.

The Colts have an MVP caliber player on the offensive side of the ball, and it is wise to try and get him the ball as much as possible. Instead, Taylor got just 9 carries against the Jaguars. Again, there are some logical explanations to this number, as the Colts were already trailing by double-digits after the first half, and the Jaguars were consistently putting 8 guys in the box, challenging the Colts to beat them through the air (which they clearly could not do), but just single-digit carries for your MVP is egregious.

Another storyline this young season has been the mediocre play of Kenny Moore II. Going back to last year, Kenny’s struggles have been going on for quite some time now. After asking for a pay raise this off-season, I expected Kenny to come out playing angry, and instead he has been a liability this past two games. Against the Jags he got picked on, being targeted 4 times and allowing 4 catches, the most important being a passing touchdown in the first half. The Colts’ defense relied a lot on Kenny making plays, and when he is not only not making such plays but also a liability, the unit struggles.