Colts Frank Reich Says Mistakes vs. Texans ‘A Reflection on Me’

While the Colts left Houston with a tie and a share of the lead in the AFC South, their sloppy performance is a concern moving forward.

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Matt Ryan stated it bluntly after the Colts came away with a tie with the Houston Texans on Sunday.

“It was a weird game.”

And weird is only one way to describe the contest that ended in a 20-20 score in a half-empty NRG Stadium. Other words that could be used to describe the game include bizarre, sloppy, or a roller coaster. We thought those types of games were left in 2021.

But unfortunately for the Colts, Week 1 was once again accompanied by a less than stellar performance. Players and coaches alike talked about how the 2021 season was behind them. We were told they had left the rocky starts in the past, instead focused on executing and taking care of business on the field.

Yet head coach Frank Reich was left to answer questions after the game about all the mistakes and missed opportunities his team squandered yet again. While it does not count as a loss, the Colts did not come away with a victory in Week 1 for the ninth consecutive season. For all the talk about 2021 being behind them, Sunday looked like a near repeat showing from Jacksonville.

“Ultimately that's a reflection on me and I take ownership of that,” Reich said.

Reich is correct. The Colts’ poor performance is a reflection on him, and that is a really bad thing. For a team with deep playoff aspirations, to start the season looking like this is alarming.

Getting into the mistakes, we will start by looking at Reich’s biggest of the day. On their third drive of the day, the Colts’ offense had driven 66 yards down to the Texans’ two-yard line with a chance to go up by double digits. Facing a fourth-and-goal at the two, you would think Reich would hand it off to his All-Pro running back to run behind his All-Pro left guard, who just signed a record-breaking extension, and punch it in for six.

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Instead, the Colts run a wildcat play with running back Nyheim Hines taking the snap, and Ryan split out wide. No Jonathan Taylor, no Quenton Nelson. The Texans were not fooled, and Hines was stuffed for a loss, completely flipping the momentum of the game.

“It was a play we felt great about coming in, and honestly, this is how it goes sometimes,” Reich admitted. “But it didn't appear like they lined up on defense correctly. I give Lovie Smith a lot of credit. They had their defensive end do something that messed with us. He gave us a false indicator, something we had not seen from them, so that's really a credit to Lovie Smith. They out-coached us and out-played us on that play.”

Moving on to Ryan, the veteran quarterback also had quite a few shaky moments in his Colts debut. Ryan had a hard time handling the ball on Sunday, with three fumbles coming on the snap exchange and the fourth fumble on a strip-sack. Ryan had the seventh most fumbles in the NFL last season with 11, so this is something worth monitoring.

“It's just on me,” Ryan said, taking the blame. “We've got to get that cleaned up, so we will. There's no doubt about that. It's just on me.”

Ryan also tossed an interception to Texans’ defensive end Jerry Hughes, a former Colt, as Ryan tried to dump the ball off to Taylor on a screen. Ryan’s inability to protect the ball cost the Colts in this one.

“(Hughes) was engaged kind of when I let it go and just disengaged as the ball was coming out,” Ryan recalled. “It's part of football. It sucks because it was a really good call. I think we had action. I think we had it set up pretty good. I've got to find a better passing lane.”

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The unproven wide receiver group – a group in which general manager Chris Ballard has said ad nauseam how much they like – struggled at times as well. Drops by Alec Pierce and Ashton Dulin in the end zone left ten points on the field. For a group that, outside of Michael Pittman Jr., was surrounded with questions and skepticism, they did little to calm any of those concerns.

And now we come to Rodrigo Blankenship, who did all he could to lose the Colts’ kicking job on Sunday. Blankenship went 2-of-3 on field goals, but his miss was the 42-yarder that would have given the Colts the win. He also had two kickoffs that went out of bounds, giving the Texans great field position towards the end of the game.

The Colts have been plagued by uneven kicking since 2019. The Colts’ kicking game has continued to lose the team games, another area Ballard deserves some blame for not addressing properly. While Reich did not say anything publicly to discourage his kicker, expect kicker workouts to happen at W 56th street this week.

But for all of the mistakes, all of the blunders, and all of the unforced errors that made you want to pull your hair out, the Colts still had a chance to win on Sunday. It only took them three quarters to wake up, but Indy scored 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to force overtime.

Ryan bounced back to finish the day 32-of-50 for 352 yards with a touchdown and an interception, staying cool and leading the Colts’ offense on their comeback. Taylor (31 carries, 161 yards, TD) and Pittman (nine catches, 121 yards, TD) continued to show why they are the young superstars the Colts will be building their offense around for years to come. Kwity Paye (two sacks) and Grover Stewart (two TFL) dominated up-front in the fourth quarter, stalling crucial drives by the Texans.

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What may be the craziest fact of the day is that after all that transpired in Houston, the Colts and Texans come out of Week 1 tied atop the AFC South standings. The Jacksonville Jaguars lost to the Washington Commanders and former Colts’ quarterback Carson Wentz, who threw for 313 yards and four touchdowns with two interceptions. The Tennessee Titans missed a game-winning field goal as time expired and dropped to the New York Giants at home. Sometimes, it is better to be lucky than good.

When putting this into perspective, the performance by the Colts is just one game in a very long and grueling 18-week journey. Did the Colts lay an egg in Week 1 once again? Absolutely. But the team has confidence they can correct the issues that plagued them Sunday.

“I think if we can clean things up, tighten things up a little bit, we're going to be just fine,” Ryan explained. “But we need to tighten them up. There has to be a sense of urgency to get that done. This is a good example for us of it needs to be right. It needs to be right from the start. Coming back at the end, giving ourselves a chance, that's great, but all of the plays matter. We've got to be sharp from the start.”

That urgency starts from the top down. Reich cannot let his team get off to another slow start. The Colts are too talented of a team to allow themselves to dig a hole and have to recover to end the season. Things do not get any easier next week as the Colts head down to Jacksonville to revenge their Week 18 loss.

After all was said and done, things could be much worse for the Colts. But for Reich and this team, the mistakes and errors need to be cleaned up and fixed by next Sunday. Otherwise, Reich could find himself on a very hot seat before we even reach October.

Have thoughts on Frank Reich and the Colts' performance against the Texans? Let us know in the comments below!

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