INDIANAPOLIS – The numbers are appalling.

During Sunday’s 37-34 loss against the Jacksonville Jaguars – the team’s 10th consecutive away from home in the annual series – the Indianapolis Colts allowed 497 total yards and an average of 8.7 yards per snap.

Trevor Lawrence threw for a career-high 371 yards, rookie Brian Thomas had 122 yards on five catches and Tank Bigsby rushed for 101 yards on just 13 carries.

Thomas caught an 85-yard touchdown pass, and Bigsby had a 65-yard touchdown run.

Crucially, with the scored tied and Jacksonville at its own 30-yard line with 2:40 remaining, the Colts surrendered three plays of 9 yards or more as the Jaguars marched to Indianapolis’ 31-yard line and kicked the game-winning field goal.

In light of all this, head coach Shane Steichen explained Monday he maintains his faith in defensive coordinator Gus Bradley.

“Gus has been doing this for a long time, and he’s had incredible defenses, obviously, where he’s been,” Steichen said. “And I’ve got the faith and trust in him to get this thing turned around. If you look back at the game, the biggest thing that we need to improve on is not giving up the explosive plays.

“We allowed too many of those, and we’ve got to get those things cleaned up. And also affecting the quarterback, whether that’s with the four-man rush, a five-man rush or a six-man rush. We’ve got to affect the quarterback early in games, and we go from there.”

The pass rush was expected to be a strength for the Colts this season after the team set an Indianapolis-era record with 51 sacks in 2023.

But defensive end Samson Ebukam tore his Achilles’ tendon in training camp, defensive tackle DeForest Buckner was placed on injured reserve following a Week 2 loss at Green Bay, defensive end Kwity Paye has missed the past two weeks with a quadricep injury and defensive end Tyquan Lewis was placed on injured reserve with an elbow injury last week.

That’s a lot of talent on the sideline, and it’s severely tested the Colts’ depth early in the season.

But Sunday’s performance – which included no sacks and not even a quarterback hit – is unacceptable regardless of the personnel on the field.

The goal has been to get to the quarterback by dominating up front, but that can be difficult to sustain consistently without the aid of more blitz calls.

Injuries to cornerbacks Kenny Moore II (hip) and JuJu Brents (knee) in the secondary have complicated that math, and Bradley historically has been reluctant to blitz.

“I mean, ideally, you want to trust the guys on the field to be able to just get home without needing to send pressure, especially with a lot of guys down in the secondary,” defensive tackle Dayo Odeyingbo, who has a team-high two sacks, said. “So, at the end of the day – you could have more pressures (by blitzing), but there’s no saying whether that’s going to really make a difference. So, I mean, you’ve got to play with the play that’s called, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Indianapolis ranks 25th in the 32-team NFL in scoring defense (24.4 points per game) and is 29th in passing yards allowed (1,311) and 31st in rushing yards surrendered (785).

The rushing stats are skewed somewhat by the first two weeks, when the Colts gave up 200 yards on the ground in each game. But Indianapolis is still 16th in average yards allowed per carry (4.5).

The Colts are 30th in yards allowed per pass attempt (7.4) and 21st with eight touchdown passes surrendered.

But Steichen insists Indianapolis has everything it needs to turn things around.

“I’ve got a lot of confidence in the guys in the locker room. I really do,” he said “We had two good weeks the past two weeks. Obviously, we’d love to have (Sunday) back, but we can’t take it back. We’ve got to move forward.

“We’ve got to learn from our mistakes. There’s constructive criticism, holding people accountable going forward, and that’s what we’ve got to get done. We’ve got a huge division game coming up in Tennessee that we’ve got to get ready to go play.”

ROSTER MOVES

The Colts placed right guard Will Fries (fractured tibia) on injured reserve Monday and waived cornerback Dallis Flowers, leaving two open spots on the 53-man roster.

Steichen said Fries underwent successful surgery in Jacksonville and was scheduled to fly home to Indianapolis later Monday.

The Colts also re-signed kicker Spencer Shrader to the practice squad and released cornerback Gregory Junior from the practice squad.