JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Facing a 14-point deficit with just over five minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Colts needed a touchdown, a stop, another touchdown and another stop to at the very least force overtime on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Stadium.
The Colts got the first touchdown when running back Trey Sermon plunged into the end zone from one yard out, converting two explosive catches by Alec Pierce into a rally-saving score. The Colts then got the stop they needed, with cornerbacks Jaylon Jones and Sam Womack III breaking up passes on second and third down to stop the clock and get the ball back to the offense.
Sermon ripped off a 17-yard run, then Flacco connected with Pierce for a 65-yard touchdown. Two minutes and 19 seconds – and just five offensive plays – after the Colts took over down by two touchdowns, the game was tied.
"Joe did a remarkable job of keeping us in it and (to) keep fighting," linebacker Zaire Franklin said. "And AP, can't say enough about AP and the job he's doing this season.
"Defense, we gotta do our part. We didn't do our part today. That's the moral of the story."
The Jaguars emerged with their first victory of the 2024 season because they were able to gain 39 yards on four plays before and after the two-minute warning, quickly marching from their own 30-yard line to the Colts' 30-yard line. Kicker Cam Little connected on a 49-yard field goal with 17 seconds left, which ultimately sent the Colts back to Indianapolis with a 37-34 defeat.
The Colts allowed Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence – who was neither sacked nor hit on Sunday – to complete 28 of 34 passes for 371 yards. The Jaguars had three plays of 60 or more yards: An 85-yard touchdown from Lawrence to wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr.; a 61-yard completion from Lawrence to wide receiver Christian Kirk; and a 65-yard touchdown dash by running back Tank Bigsby.
While the Colts were missing six expected starters or key contributors on defense – defensive ends Samson Ebukam, Tyquan Lewis and Kwity Paye, defensive tackle DeForest Buckner and cornerbacks JuJu Brents and Kenny Moore II – that wasn't an excuse the team trotted out after the game by a defense that allowed 8.7 yards per play.
"Everybody's gotta do their part," Franklin said. Guys are responsible for knowing what to do — this is our job. It's tough having guys out but Jacksonville don't care, Tennessee ain't gonna care. You can't use that as an excuse. This is the NFL. Everybody in this locker room is hand-picked and talented enough to help us win games. They wouldn't be in the room if the weren't. When you get your opportunity, that's your chance to prove yourself."
While the game, in a narrow sense, came down to the Colts' being unable to keep the Jaguars out of field goal range, more broadly the Jaguars' ability to generate explosive plays proved costly.
Jacksonville converted just four of 12 tries on third and fourth down and lost the turnover battle – Jaylon Jones punched out a fumble and Nick Cross picked off Lawrence, while Flacco lost a fumble. The Colts, for the first time in 2024, possessed the ball longer than their opponent (31:32 to 28:28).
The Jaguars turned all six of their explosive plays (10 or more yards on a rush, 15 or more yards on a pass) into points, either on the play or following the play. And while the Jaguars struggled to convert on third and fourth down, they picked up 16 first downs on first or second down and averaged 10 yards per play on those early downs.
After the game, though, Steichen said he was confident his team's defense could find a way to turn things around.
"Because of the guys we got with Zaire and EJ (Speed) and Buck and Kwity — all the guys, they work their tails off every week," Steichen said. "This is the National Football League. This stuff ain't easy. And our guys fight and battle and scratch and claw, and we gotta find ways at the end. And obviously this was a tough one today."
Members of the Colts' offense, though, shouldered responsibility for Sunday's loss.
After opening the game, with a 12-play, 71-yard drive that ended with a Michael Pittman Jr. touchdown, the Colts' offense gained just 115 yards over its next seven possessions, on which they were out-scored 20-3.
"You're going to have some of that sometimes, and it is disappointing, but I think if you look at those drives there may have been a couple things we could have done to actually keep the chains from moving," Flacco said. "… There were a couple times where we did get down in the red zone or maybe once or twice if we get touchdowns, maybe it changes the game a little bit, those are probably the things I'm going to look at more so than some of those three-and-outs we had."
The Jaguars played with two high safeties for most of Sunday's game, trying to prevent the Colts from hitting explosive plays down the field while committing to stopping the run up front. It wasn't until late in the game that the Colts got the looks they wanted to hit those shots, with Pierce on the receiving end of three game-changing receptions.
"They were playing a lot of shell against us," Steichen said. "We weren't establishing drives early in the third quarter. … We gotta continue drives. It starts with myself to get that thing going. We can't wait until the fourth quarter to start hitting those things. That starts with me."
The Colts are 2-3 and, perhaps more importantly, 0-2 in the AFC South. There's still time to make up ground, but with divisional road games against the Titans (Week 6) and Texans (Week 8) looming, that time is running out in the AFC South.
This is a team that believes in its talent and resilience, though. And the Colts will need both those things to show up time and time again this season to become the contender they, collectively, believe they can be in 2024.
"I've been on enough teams now, you know, I don't think NFL guys get a ton of credit for being high character people necessarily all the time, but there's a ton of high character guys in that locker room, and just good people," Flacco said. "I think when you get guys on your team that are good people, they're tough, they're willing to fight, they want to do it, they want to show up for themselves, they want to show up for the guy next to them. When you get people that are like that, that's kind of the recipe for building a good football team. Because you're going to have people that are constantly playing through that full 60 minutes, and that's what we have in there."
