INDIANAPOLIS — Another game, another result leaving more questions than answers surrounding this Indianapolis Colts football team.
Coming off back-to-back losses, Indianapolis was looking to right the ship. They would have to do so without Michael Pittman Jr. and Ryan Kelly on Sunday.
The Colts' defense started the game well by forcing the Bills to punt on their first possession; however, the first offensive play for Colts, Joe Flacco threw a pick-six to Bills cornerback Taron Johnson. He returned it 23 yards to the house.
Buffalo in the blink of an eye was on top 7-0.
On its second possession, the Colts were moving the ball only to see it given away yet again. This time, as Flacco was attempting to set up a screen pass to Jonathan Taylor, he instead threw it to Bills defensive lineman Austin Johnson, who intercepted the pass. Two possessions, two interceptions—and Buffalo capitalized, courtesy of a Tyler Bass 29-yard field goal to go on top 10-0.
The Colts emerged on its third possession to a flurry of boos from the Lucas Oil Stadium crowd. Taylor responded with a 59-yard carry to put Indy in the redzone. However, the Colts had to settle for three points courtesy of a 27-yard FG by Matt Gay.
Finally in the second quarter, the offense came through. Flacco led an 11-play, 72-yard drive capped off by a touchdown pass to Tyler Goodson to tie this game up at 10 a piece.
This defense continued its solid play in this game. EJ Speed came up with a big time interception in the second quarter that translated to three more Colts' points (Gay 23-yard field goal) to put them up 13-10.
Buffalo responded with a quick eight-play, 70-yard drive, taking just 4:18 off the clock. MVP hopeful Josh Allen ran it in from 13 yards out to give the Bills the lead back at 17-13. Buffalo would tack on a field goal at the end of the first half to give them a 20-13 halftime lead.
The second half was not kind to the Colts. Flacco fumbled, threw another interception and the Colts turned it over on downs throughout this half. At the end of it all, the score indicated a much closer game than was played on the field as Buffalo wins by a final of 30-20, handing the Colts its third consecutive loss.
"Overall, disappointing obviously. Can't turn the ball over. You turn the ball over like that, it's going to be hard to win football games," Colts head coach Shane Steichen said after the game. "Thought our defense played pretty darn good, kept us in it, but obviously, wasn't good enough to get it done tonight.”
"I mean the toughest thing about not playing well is just your mentality and having to deal with – stand tall and deal with the fact that you're not playing well," Flacco said postgame. "The best way to do that is just go back to work. We have the ability to do what we want. We're just making too many mistakes. When you do get into a little rut like this, then yeah, it can be tough mentally, but you’ve got to just do all you can to kind of put that aside and go to your job.”
Steichen was asked if he considered going with Anthony Richardson at any point in the game. He reiterated that Flacco gives the Colts the best chance to win right now.
"Until I say otherwise, right now, Joe (Flacco) is our guy right now," Steichen replied. "Obviously, just a guy that's a veteran guy. We've had two games that he'd like to have back, but we'll keep battling through it, see where it goes.”
Obviously, this was a lackluster performance by this team—primarily on offense. So much so that the Lucas Oil Stadium crowd, as aforementioned, was booing the team throughout the game.
“I mean shoot, we’ve got to give them something to cheer about," Steichen said. "Obviously, we're not moving the ball. We’ve got to be better. We’ve got to go back, and freaking get it cleaned up. Got a lot of football left. Obviously, got a big one coming up against the Jets. So, we'll get it cleaned up tomorrow, come back into work and that's what we’ve got to do.”
“Listen, this is a humbling game. This league is tough. You're going to have to deal with things like that from time to time. It's unfortunate," Flacco said. "You don't want to put yourself in that situation, but we can only look at ourselves. I can only look at myself in terms of why that's happening. It is what it is.”
Kenny Moore II had a crucial interception in the second half of this game. In the locker room afterwards, he had strong comments regarding this Colts team and his teammates effort.
“I don’t think everybody is working as hard as possible, and obviously it’s showing. I’m not the type to sugarcoat it, honestly. I don’t think the urgency is there. I don't think the details are there. I don’t think the effort is there, and I don't see everything correlating from meetings to practice to the games, and it shows." Moore II said. "We have to look ourselves in the mirror and ask ourselves how bad we want it."
"The thing that's frustrating is we're letting things leak into another week. To go out and make the same mistakes over and over—that's what drives me insane as a player and individually," Moore II continued. "We are in November, and I don't see us making that jump from September to November. I'm seeing the same things. We just have to start addressing it and not sugarcoat or beat around the bush. I think that's what we are lacking, and year-to-year, it's the same thing."
Those are certainly telling comments after this football game. The Colts fall to 4-6 on the season and travel to play the New York Jets next week.