NFL
By: Mark T. Wilson
The Indianapolis Colts are shaking things up in the NFL. With a 6-5 record heading into their Week 14 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals, they are still in playoff position. No one saw this coming for various reasons, and yet, here they are. How did this happen?
The holdout regarding Jonathan Taylor should have been enough to derail their season. But after missing the first 4 games, and getting a new contract, Taylor was back in the trenches making his presence felt.
The Colts handed the keys to their season to their top draft pick Anthony Richardson. By all accounts, he was not supposed to thrive. There were too many holes in his game and according to most scouts and analysts, he needed time to grow into the role. But there he was in Week 1 doing things he was not supposed to do and leading the team to a victory.
Before his injury, Richardson was 2-2 as the starter. But then he went down and people wrote the Colts out. But the story gets deeper. The team was already handcuffed to begin with due to suspensions on the defensive side of the ball. They you take into account, they were being led by a rookie head coach, no Taylor, a rookie QB, and no true No. 1 receiver.
Will The Indianapolis Colts Make The Playoffs
Despite all those concerns, the Indianapolis Colts are still within reach of extending their season. Hell, they have a better record than the Buffalo Bills and Bengals and sit a game behind the Jaguars. This wasn’t supposed to happen, right?
There is no way Shane Steichen could come in and get this team to be competitive with so many off-the-field and then on-the-field issues surrounding them.
Filling in for Richardson is Gardner Minshew, another product of the Philadelphia Eagles along with Steichen. Taylor has been in and out of the lineup and the Colts have been getting it done with Zack Moss as their primary runner. The questions surrounding their receivers have been answered with the play of Michael Pittman and Josh Downs.
While Minshew can not be mistaken for a franchise QB, he has done his part as the starter and has gone 5-3 with 2284 Passing Yards to go with 10 TDs and a completion percentage of 62.8. These are not stellar numbers but the Colts are grinding out wins. During their current 4-game winning streak, the Indianapolis Colts have defeated the Carolina Panthers, New England Patriots, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Tennessee Titans. Neither one is playoff-bound as of now but a win is a win, especially for a team many wrote off.
