Colts try again to solve losing skid at Jacksonville
Published 1:00 pm Saturday, October 5, 2024
- The Indianapolis Colts offense lines up against the Jacksonville Jaguars defense on Oct. 15, 2023, at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida.
INDIANAPOLIS — Superman has kryptonite.
Achilles has his heel.
And the Indianapolis Colts have EverBank Stadium.
It’s been a decade since the Jacksonville Jaguars have lost to the Colts on their home field.
Eight games in the annual series have been played in Duval County since 2015, and one was contested at London’s Wembley Stadium.
The Jaguars have won all nine, by an average margin of 15 points while scoring 29.9 points per game.
Indianapolis (2-2) will try again to end the slump Sunday and avoid handing Jacksonville (0-4) its first victory of the season.
Colts head coach Shane Steichen only has been involved with the most recent loss in the series — a 37-20 decision last October — but has plenty of respect for the Jaguars.
Steichen’s message to his team this week is to maintain its internal standard.
“The standard doesn’t care about how talented you are. It doesn’t,” he said. “It cares about how consistent you are and how disciplined you are. We’ve got to be disciplined and consistent in our approach every week. Doesn’t matter who we’re playing, where we’re playing.
“I don’t care that they’re 0-4. They’re a damn good football team. They’ve had some close games obviously that could have went either way. We’ve got a division opponent that we got to go beat.”
Three of Jacksonville’s four losses have come by a combined total of 12 points, and the Jaguars led two of those games entering the fourth quarter.
Running back Dare Ogunbowale’s 1-yard touchdown with 18 seconds left gave the Houston Texans a 24-20 win to extend Jacksonville’s losing streak last week.
The Jaguars have lost nine of their last 10 games overall, and quarterback Trevor Lawrence is riding a personal nine-game losing skid.
Jacksonville was 8-3 and in the AFC South lead on Nov. 26, 2023, but it’s only victory since was a 26-0 decision against the Carolina Panthers on Dec. 31 with C.J. Beathard at quarterback.
Lawrence has completed just 53.3% of his passes for 729 yards with four touchdowns and one interception this season. But he’s always been at his best against the Colts.
Lawrence is 4-2 in his career against Indianapolis — and a perfect 3-0 at home — while completing 70.7% of his throws for 1,207 yards with nine touchdowns and two picks.
The Colts are preparing for that version of the quarterback this week.
“He doesn’t go to one guy, but he feels comfortable to use all of his weapons,” Indianapolis defensive coordinator Gus Bradley said. “So we’re seeing him back there play with some poise. They just have had some misfortune, but it’s still when you watch (film) — I mean, it’s a coordinated offense, and you can see what they want to do.
“They want to get a run game going, get the ball off his hands, get it to the skill players. There’s just been a couple plays here and there that have kept them from being in a situation where they were to start with a better record.”
Jacksonville’s offense is 29th in the 32-team NFL with an average of just 15 points per game. The passing game ranks 28th in total yards and yards per attempt, but the running game is 13th in total yards and second with an average of 5.7 yards per carry.
It’s a two-headed rushing attack with Travis Etienne carrying the ball 47 times for 214 yards and two touchdowns, and Tank Bigsby breaking off big plays with 21 carries for 172 yards and an average of 8.2 yards per carry.
Indianapolis has been better against the run after surrendering 474 combined yards in the first two weeks, but it still ranks 31st in total yards and 14th in yards per attempt (4.4).
Injuries also remain a concern along the defensive line. Defensive end Kwity Paye (quadricep) will miss his second straight game, and defensive end Samson Ebukam (Achilles), defensive tackle DeForest Buckner (ankle) and defensive end Tyquan Lewis (elbow) are on injured reserve.
“We just had to get back to the fundamentals and do things right,” Bradley said of the run defense improvement. “So we’re still not there yet. I mean, there’s some plays that were left out. Our tackling has improved, but (it’s) still not where it needs to be. But at least you know they can see that there’s progress being made.”
The Colts also will need to piece some things together on offense.
Running back Jonathan Taylor (ankle) has been ruled out, and quarterback Anthony Richardson (oblique) and center Ryan Kelly (neck) are among the likely game-time decisions.
Whoever is on the field has to push the franchise’s recent history in Duval County out of their minds and find a way to end the losing skid in Jacksonville.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a tough place to play,” linebacker Zaire Franklin said. “I just think we just consistently haven’t put out a good performance there, but none of that really matters.
“New team. New year. New situation. So (we’ve) just got to approach it with a fresh mindset, ready to play.”