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Man, what a cruel mistress football can be. After leading 22-3 at one points, the Indianapolis Colts fell 31-25 to the Baltimore Ravens on primetime Monday Night Football. The loss drops the Colts to 1-4, and is all the more disappointing when you consider they were supposed to make the leap from playoff team to legitimate contender this year.
However, it's only been 5 weeks into this extended 18-week season, and the Colts have time to make gains within the relatively non-competitive AFC South. The Colts are tied for second even at their paltry record, and sit only 2 games behind the first place Tennessee Titans.
The question remains, though – do the Colts have what it takes to recover from this brutal loss and make a run in the last two-thirds of the season? Here are three takeaways from the game that will help us find out.
4. Jonathan Taylor can dominate a game when fully unleashed
It looked to be a rough game for Taylor when he dropped a second down pass in the flat, but he responded quickly after with a huge statement. On the Colts third play of the game, he took a swing pass 76 yards to the house. At 5'10”, 227 pounds, with elite speed, vision, power, and agility, he's capable of being one of the league's best workhorse backs when given a lion's share of touches. The Colts have yet to burden him with that big of a workload thus far, but he showed his full talented on Monday against a talented Ravens defense, and will only get stronger as the weather gets colder.
3. Indy's D has an amazing ceiling
For the majority of the contest against Baltimore, the Colts shut down the Ravens offense. They got pressure on Lamar Jackson, blanketed Marquise Brown and Mark Andrews, and even forced a huge takeaway when Baltimore was knocking on the goal line. Then, the second half happened. But the meltdown should not be the focus for the Colts; rather, they should see all the great things they did in the first half and look to repeat them. If they could stop a QB as talented as Jackson for more than a half, they're clearly a capable defense.
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2. T.Y. Hilton's return will make the WR room elite
Indy has been without Hilton for the entirety of this season, but he'll soon join a wideout corps that includes Michael Pittman Jr., Zach Pascal, and Parris Campbell. And, while none of those names jump off the screen as household talents, they combine to form a great handful for secondaries to handle. Pittman flashed his immense physical talent on Monday with an insane 42-yard Moss-and-run, and there could definitely be more of the same from this group to come.
WATCH YA HEAD!!
📺 ESPN pic.twitter.com/33oHHOZpcq
— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) October 12, 2021
1. The Colts can truly beat anyone
Though the loss stings, the Colts would have won easily had they converted on a Rodrigo Blankenship extra point OR either of the 2 field goals he missed. They simply outplayed the Ravens, and were unlucky that the usually consistent Blankenship was dealing with an injury that was apparently affecting his kicking ability. Seeing as they should have won against 4-1 Baltimore and were close to beating the 4-1 Rams, the Colts' playoff hopes are certainly not dashed quite yet.
