![]() ![]() And it didn’t even cost them the top pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. Then, hooooo boy, an absolute disintegration against the Patriots, who beat them 50-10.īut in Week 18, with the Colts busy vomiting down their own chests, Jacksonville finally woke up for a cathartic win. It made no immediate impact on the field.įirst came a loss to the Texans. The Jaguars fired human disaster Urban Meyer before Week 15. ![]() That doesn’t mean he can’t get the Colts to the postseason next year it just means he probably can’t win a playoff game unless Taylor and his defense work overtime to cover for him. He spent the last two weeks proving that. Wentz lacks the engine to do this on his own. There are several very good players on the roster and a quarterback who is a paper boat flowing with whatever current those guys create. Indianapolis is likely to be a very similar team in 2022 as it was this winter. Given how Wentz played his final four weeks - a few promising deep plays but mostly underwhelming decisions - that may not be enough to push him to the potential he began to fulfill in Philly before a torn ACL robbed him of his efficiency. There are options available to coax more from a limited passer. It could buy low on former first round tight ends OJ Howard or David Njoku and hope for a 2018 Eric Ebron-style renaissance. Indy could carve out a chunk of that $50m+ to throw at guys like Allen Robinson, Chris Godwin, Mike Williams, or Michael Gallup. The Colts’ spending room means it has options to upgrade his targets, which could be a boon. All signs point to another year of Wentz as Indy’s starting quarterback. Yep, the asset that made Wentz a Colt is why Indy probably won’t be able to take a Day 1 quarterback and will likely be left out of any Aaron Rodgers/Russell Wilson sweepstakes should either veteran opt to leave town. It’s unlikely the team could find a better option for 2022 - especially without a first round pick at the upcoming draft thanks to the trade that brought Wentz to Indiana in the first place. There’s no pressing reason to cut ties with him thanks to more than $50 million in cap space next offseason. Releasing him would leave $15 million of dead money on the team’s salary sheet (trading him would leave none, but who the hell’s gonna trade for him after Sunday’s disaster?). Wentz is on the hook for a cap hit of more than $28 million next season. There isn’t an easy answer to this problem. It was already clear the former Eagle couldn’t handle the pressure of performing when Taylor can’t carry the offense. Indianapolis finished 2021 with two fewer wins than it did last season with a 39-year-old Philip Rivers. The responsibility for this failure falls squarely on Wentz’s shoulders. This team beat the Patriots and Bills by double digits and handled the 49ers and Cardinals. Taylor was the most impactful running back in the league by far. Their offensive line, when healthy, is a dominant group. Their defense played at a top 10 level in 2021. Now the Colts have to deal with a reckoning. He was roughly 20 expected points worse than Trevor Lawrence, a rookie playing for nothing but a little 2022 hype behind a depleted roster. Though he eventually put together his team’s first touchdown drive with 4:26 remaining in the game, it was far too little, far too late. He had 39 net passing yards by the time the fourth quarter began. He was sacked five times in three quarters by the Jags’ typically-underwhelming pass rush. Wentz imploded upon himself like a dying casino on the old Vegas strip. He crushed his own burgeoning drives with a combination of awful decision making and terrible accuracy.ĭo you know what that mean? #INDvsJAX | #DUUUVAL /PUu5qteigA He completed just eight of his 15 passes in the first three quarters as Jacksonville’s 32nd-ranked passing defense helped build a 23-3 lead. Carson Wentz, who’d played enough snaps this season to force the Colts to ship a first round pick to the Eagles for his services, was a disaster. Jonathan Taylor, a bonafide MVP candidate, spent the first half stuck in neutral against the league’s 21st-ranked rushing defense. They did not beat the Jacksonville Jaguars. All they had to do was beat the 2-14 Jacksonville Jaguars, the team who’d been the punchline to just about every NFL joke you could think of in 2021. The Indianapolis Colts had an 88 percent chance of making the playoffs Sunday morning. ![]()
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