Last week the Indianapolis Colts saw their three-game winning streak come to an end at the hands of the Cleveland Browns. Now they have a chance to get back to their winning ways against another AFC North team – the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Colts come into the game as favorites. They are 3-2 on the year, compared to Cincinnati's record of 1-3-1.
Meanwhile, Indianapolis is the home team. Although that does not mean nearly as much this year as previous years due to the pandemic protocols.
That being said, there is still an advantage and all signs still point to the Colts having that advantage. Can they keep it though?
Will the Bengals continue to improve and find a way to win? Or do they take a step back after that disastrous game against the Baltimore Ravens?
Can the Colts bounce back from a loss? Or will they continue to slide and fall down to .500? Who will step up and who might crumble in the spotlight?
Let's take a look at the upcoming contest and make four bold predictions for the Colts in their Week 6 game against the Bengals.
Philip Rivers Throws Multiple TD Passes For The Colts
Philip Rivers joined the Colts this year, and the quarterback was supposed to thrust them to the next level.
Sure, he was coming off a bad year but the resume spoke for itself.
That being said, things have not been great for Rivers in Indianapolis so far. The Colts are 3-2, which is solid, but it's not anything special.
Meanwhile, Rivers has completed a fantastic 70.8% of his passes so far. That's as far as the positives go though.
The quarterback has thrown for 1,227 yards through five games. That's not bad but it's not where you would expect Rivers to be at this point in a season.
More importantly though, he has just four touchdown passes compared to five interceptions through those same five games. That's legitimately bad. It's not a rate you could see Rivers keeping up if the Colts plan on winning.
One glaring thing to point out, he has not even had a multi-touchdown game yet. Rivers threw exactly one touchdown pass in each of the first four games, before throwing zero in the fifth game.
Now he's going to make up for that though. In Week 6 against a bad Cincinnati team, Rivers will have his breakout performance of the 2020 season, throwing three touchdown passes and helping the Indianapolis offense to get rolling.
Jonathan Taylor Continues Hot Streak
Speaking of the offense, rookie running back Jonathan Taylor has been fantastic this year.
In Week 1, Taylor had just 22 rushing yards on nine carries (2.4 yards per attempt). Since then, he's exploded.
The running back has ran for over 50 yards in all four games since then. That includes a 100-plus yard game in Week 2. He also has a touchdown in three of the four games since Week 1.
In total, Taylor has 307 yards on 77 carries (4.0 yards per attempt) and has three touchdowns as well.
In Week 6, he's going to continue the hot streak that he's on. Not only will Taylor rush for over 50 yards again, he's going to eclipse 75 yards for the second time in his career.
The running back might even throw in a touchdown, as he has already shown he is prone to doing so.
Cincinnati has had some issues against the run already this year. Just look at last week when they allowed 161 yards to the Baltimore Ravens. If you really need more examples of them struggling against the run, they are not hard to find.
So Taylor will benefit from two things. First of all, he's on a hot streak of his own. Clearly he's running well and ready to pick up some big yards every week.
At the same time though, he's also going up against a bad rushing defense. That could lead to a massive week for the rookie.
T.Y. Hilton Gets on the Board
T.Y. Hilton is a superstar wide receiver. Everyone knows that at this point in his career.
So far in 2020 he is proving it by leading the Colts in receptions (19) and receiving yards (231). However, he has yet to score a touchdown this year.
That is extremely odd for Hilton, usually touchdowns are a decent part of his game.
In fact, the lowest number of touchdowns the wide receiver has ever reeled in during any NFL season he has played in (regardless of number of games) has been four.
Obviously right now, he is on-pace for a whopping zero this season.
With that in mind, that number is 100% going to change. Likely, it's going to change rather soon and the wide receiver will end up with a solid number by the end of the year.
Why not get started right now? I've already made the bold prediction that Rivers is going to have a breakout performance.
That performance included not only his first multi-touchdown game of the season, but three touchdown passes from the quarterback.
Who could he possibly be throwing all those touchdowns to? How about one or two go Hilton's way?
Defense Devours Joe Burrow
Joe Burrow has been hot-and-cold in his rookie year. He had a phenomenal game against the Philadelphia Eagles. There was also a three touchdown and no interception performance against the Cleveland Browns (although he only threw for 316 yards despite 61 pass attempts).
However, Burrow also has some bad games under his belt. That includes last week against the Ravens when he threw for under 200 yards and had no touchdowns compared to one interception and two fumbles.
He could be looking for a bounce back game. The Colts are not going to let that happen though.
Burrow has already been sacked 22 times this year. It probably should not come as a surprise to you that 22 sacks is the most in the league. He's being brought down behind the line of scrimmage more than four times a game.
The Indianapolis defense only has 11 sacks on the year though. That's middle of the pack and not all that exciting. So the question becomes, who breaks?
Do the Bengals end up protecting their quarterback well and lowering that number? Or do the Colts break through a bad offensive line and raise their number?
Spoiler alert, it's going to be the Colts. They will get to Burrow quite a few times in Week 6. Not only will they pick up a few sacks, but they will not allow him to get into a rhythm.
It will not be a bad game for the rookie, but it is not going to be a good one either.
That all equals out to a good day for the Indianapolis defense and a big win for the Colts as they improve to 4-2.
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