Previewing the New York Jets’ Opposition: Indianapolis Colts

With their playoff hopes on life support, the New York Jets can slightly improve their outlook heading into their bye week with a win over the 4-6 Indianapolis Colts, who have lost three games in a row. The last time these teams met, the Colts won 45-30 with Mike White and Josh Johnson at quarterback for the Jets.

Let’s break down the Colts’ roster going position by position:

Quarterbacks

The Colts shook things up this week by announcing that Anthony Richardson would be back in as the starter at quarterback. Last year’s fourth overall pick made six starts already this year but only completed 44 percent of his passes and had seven interceptions while also fumbling six times.

However, he’s had some spectacular plays, and his athleticism and arm make him a constant big play threat. He isn’t necessarily a run-first quarterback, but he does have 17 first downs and a touchdown as a runner this year.

Prior to being benched, ex-Jet Joe Flacco posted a quarterback rating of over 90 but lost three of four starts. The Colts had four turnovers including a Flacco pick-six in their 10-point loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. That was the only game they’ve had all year which was decided by more than eight points.

Sam Ehlinger is the number three. He’s started three games in his career, but he lost all three of them.

Offensive Line

The Colts have some injury issues on their offensive line at the moment, with Pro Bowl center Ryan Kelly recently having joined right guard Will Fries, who started the first five games, on injured reserve. In addition, left tackle Bernhard Raimann – who already missed one start this year – left last week’s game with a knee injury and has been missing from practice this week.

Third round rookie Matt Goncalves filled in for Raimann last week and previously made a start in his place, so he’ll be on standby.

Another rookie, fourth rounder Tanor Bortoloni, has already been filling in for Kelly at center and doing a pretty good job. Dalton Tucker took over from Fries as the starting right guard.

Left guard Quenton Nelson and right tackle Braden Smith have been healthy all year, though. Nelson is a six-time Pro Bowler, but Smith has 10 penalties and has given up a team-high four sacks this year.

Blake Freeland is the other backup at tackle, having started several times last year. Danny Pinter is the main reserve inside.

The Colts only have eight offensive linemen on the roster, so someone will obviously need to be elevated from the practice squad if Raimann can’t go.

Running Backs

Jonathan Taylor is still one of the top running backs around. He has over 600 rushing yards in just seven games, with four 100-yard games. He’s scored a team-high five rushing touchdowns and is averaging almost five yards per carry.

Backups Tyler Goodson and Trey Sermon have combined to catch 21 passes, but Sermon is averaging just 2.8 yards per carry. Goodson has fared much better with a 4.7 yards per carry average.

Pass catchers

The Colts have some big play threats in their receiving corps as they have four touchdowns of over 50 yards this year. Alec Pierce, who has a team-high 516 receiving yards and four touchdown catches, is leading the league in yards per catch, but it’s Josh Downs who leads them in receptions with 45.

Michael Pittman, who has averaged over a thousand receiving yards over the past three years, hasn’t been as productive this year but does have 30 receptions. He returned to practice this week after missing the last game.

Adonai Mitchell, who was the Colts’ second round pick, is the number four receiver with 18 receptions, but he has a catch rate of less than 50 percent.

The other two receivers on the roster are Ashton Dulin and another rookie, Anthony Gould, but both contribute mostly on special teams.

At tight end, Kylen Granson is listed as the starter after catching 30 passes last year. However, Mo Alie-Cox has seven catches to lead a group of four tight ends who have combined for 23 receptions. Will Mallory and Drew Ogletree are the other two tight ends on the roster.

Defensive Line

The Colts’ starting lineup has Kwity Paye and Dayo Odeyingbo at defensive end and Grover Stewart and Pro Bowler DeForest Buckner on the inside. All four of these have either three or 3.5 sacks. Odeyingbo currently leads the team in quarterback hits with 11 and Stewart is arguably having his best ever season as he leads them with eight tackles for loss. Paye was second on the team with 8.5 sacks last year.

The bench includes first round pick Laiatu Latu, who already has two sacks. However, Tyquan Lewis – who began the season as a starter – is on injured reserve.

Adetomiwa Adebawore, Taven Bryan and Raekwon Davis have all seen plenty of action on the inside, while Adam Gotsis, Isaiah Land and Genard Avery provide depth on the edge, although none of those three have played 100 snaps yet.

Linebackers

Zaire Franklin anchors the defense with a team-high 105 tackles, having led the Colts with 179 last season. EJ Speed also basically plays a full-time role as he has 88 tackles and six tackles for loss.

Grant Stuard recently moved into the rotation after rookie Jaylon Carlies went onto injured reserve. He made an immediate impact with 19 tackles in his first career start.

Backups Cameron McGrone and Segun Olubi have primarily been special teamers.

Defensive Backs

The Colts’ starters at safety are Julian Blackmon and Nick Cross. Blackmon led the team last year with four interceptions and eight pass breakups. Cross is a full-time starter for the first time after making four starts in his first two seasons.

The outside cornerbacks are Jaylon Jones and Samuel Womack. Jones, who was a seventh round pick last year, has a team-high nine pass breakups but also leads the team with five defensive penalties.

Nickelback Kenny Moore might be the most important player in the secondary. The 2021 Pro Bowler had two pick-sixes last year and returned a fumble for a touchdown last week, so he’s the kind of player who can make a game-altering play from the slot.

Cornerback Chris Lammons and safety Rodney Thomas have seen some action off the bench, while last year’s second round pick Juju Brents started one game before landing on injured reserve.

Safety Ronnie Harrison and cornerbacks Darren Hall and David Long round out the secondary.

Special Teams

The Colts’ kicking game has been solid this year as punter Rigoberto Sanchez is putting up career-best numbers for gross and net average and Matt Gay has made all 34 kicks from inside 50 yards. He is 2-for-5 from beyond 50.

Dulin is the primary gunner in kick coverage and leads the team with five special teams tackles. Olubi, Granson and Ogletree are also productive contributors.

In the return game, Goodson is listed as the kickoff returner with Downs as the punt returner. Gould is the primary backup for each role. Downs is averaging just under 11 yards per punt return while the longest kickoff return of the year was actually a 55-yarder by Dulin.

Stuard scored a touchdown on a punt that was blocked by Cross last season.