Colts Tie The Texans: The Colts are FINE. The Colts are Always FINE
If there's one thing you can set your watch to as a Colts fan, it's that they're going to disappoint you in Week 1. Coming into today, the Colts had lost their season opener 8 years running. Today, the Colts went toe-to-toe with the Davis Mills led Houston Texans and played them to a 20-20 tie (yuck).
9 straight years without a win in the season opener. But to be honest, as a Colts fan, I can't even be mad about it. I can never be mad at the Colts. The Colts will be fine. They're always going to be fine. They're never going to be great, and they're never going to be dog shit. They are perpetually a "fine" football team.
They're going to win between 8-10 games this year. No more no less. They might make the playoffs. They might not. The Colts ceiling is winning in the wild card round. Their floor is missing the playoffs on a tiebreaker. The AFC South is always bad enough that we have a chance. The team is never bad enough that I can complain about having to cheer for them, and they're never good enough that I can get excited about them being a threat to win the Super Bowl. The Colts have been the same team ever since Andrew Luck left, and I'm starting to think they're going to be that team for the rest of eternity.
Matt Ryan was fine today. I do think that he is a step up from Rivers & Wentz. I was surprised that the Colts had him throw the ball 50 times. I'm not sure if that's sustainable for a 37 year old QB. I was expecting him to take on much more of a game manger type of role.
Jonathan Taylor is fine (just kidding he's fucking incredible). He ran the ball 31 times for 161 yards and a TD, which is what we need and expect from him. But for the love of god can we give him a little bit of help back there? Nyheim Hines is a fine 3rd down type back. I love him catching passes out of the backfield, but he only carried the ball 3 times. If Taylor is able to run the ball 30-40 times per game, then hooray that's amazing. Personally, I would like for the Colts to have another back that can run between the tackles and help wear down the defense.
Maybe I'm wrong. I hope I'm wrong. Maybe Matt Ryan can be a gunslinger, and maybe Jonathan Taylor can handle over 90% of the team's running back carries. We have Michael Pittman who is turning into a fine #1 receiver. Our defense wasn't great today, but they're going to end up being fine.
Everyone is blaming our kicker Rodrigo Blankenship (goggles), who was less than fine when he missed a 42 yard field goal that would have won us the game in OT. But I still have confidence in him for some reason (?). Maybe I'm just being fooled by his goggles. Something about a kicker in goggles makes me think he has to be good. Goggles or not, you simply can't be missing 42 yard field goals in a dome.
Not the Week 1 we wanted, but rest assured the Colts are the same team they've always been. Mark my words, in Week 18 of the season, I'll be doing some stupid football math to determine what needs to happen across the league for the Colts to get in the playoffs on a tiebreaker.
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The Colts play at the Jacksonville Jaguars next Sunday at 1PM ET. I'm sure they'll be fine.