Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
The Indianapolis Colts were handed a dismal 44-20 loss at the hands of the Buffalo Bills in their first preseason game on Sunday afternoon. Luckily for the Colts, the game doesn’t count as the lofty goals are still in place.
With the loss comes improvements needed to be made for the team to get better to live up to their Super Bowl hype. The biggest observation made today in Lucas Oil Stadium is that the team needs to stay healthy, as depth may be a problem if any of the guys on the first two strings are injured. The new guys playing in the second half today made tons of mistakes as they gave up 14 points in the second and fourth quarters, and 10 in the third.
Third-string quarterback Chandler Harnish struggled despite being a pleasant surprise in 2012. Harnish only went 14-for-33 with 109 yards and an interception. He didn’t lead the team to any points when he came into the game, and his interception was returned for a touchdown.
The Colts showed they made the right move by bringing in veteran Matt Hasselbeck this offseason and not allowing Harnish to back up Andrew Luck just yet. Hasselbeck went 4-for-8 for 75 yards and threw a beautiful touchdown pass to T.Y. Hilton on the last play of the first quarter. He looked poised out there and comfortable.
If for any reason Luck can’t play, Hasselbeck can keep the Colts going in the right direction.
That leads me to my other observation: the offensive line still needs some work. Anthony Castonzo made a bonehead play early on and allowed Luck to be sacked uncontested. The line didn’t move much as there was tons of confusion and Luck was blindsided.
Last year, Luck was sacked 41 times and at least once in every game. The front office isn’t dumb and knew that they needed to keep their franchise player on his feet and on the turf less. After today, they didn’t look much better than last year. They did do a better job in run blocking, though, as the team averaged 4.5-yards per carry on only 16 rushes.
The only other observation from today’s loss is that the special teams needs to get better. They allowed too many long returns, including a 107-yard kickoff return by Marquise Goodwin in the second quarter.
Overall, three turnovers, a so-so offensive line and a lack of special teams helped the Colts to this preseason loss. They will have that fixed come Week 1, though.
