2024 Week 11: Colts 28, Jets 27
A few weeks ago, for the first Bengals-Ravens game, I wrote about how some high-scoring games are fun and others are frustrating to watch… this was the latter. The Colts offense still stinks and the Jets are the Jets.
The Jets (3-8) played almost as bad as Carolina in Week 1, that 47-10 blowout loss. The offense looks dysfunctional and with lineman Tyron Smith out they couldn’t block. And the defense took a huge step backward in this game. I’d be shocked if the Jets get to 5 wins unless something drastic changes.
The Colts (5-6) and particularly Anthony Richardson were lucky to catch the Jets at their lowest point of the season. Indy has the third easiest remaining schedule in the league and should get to 8 or 9 wins, though 8 is more likely based on opponents.
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Colts Offense:
- Just as I had expected, Anthony Richardson (20/30 for 272 yards, 1 TD; 10 rushes for 32 yards, 2 TDs) did not have a ‘come to Jesus’ moment and instantly become a good quarterback. Richardson looked exactly the same as he did before… he’s erratic. If he hits he’ll have 2-3+ touchdowns, if he misses he’ll have 2-3+ turnovers.
- Richardson has also seemingly lost all of his speed, something I’ve noted in the past, he just doesn’t have it anymore. AR scored 2 touchdowns and rushed for 32 yards on the ground, but none of it is like it was last year, he’s closer to a power back now than the savvy Josh Allen-esque runner he was last season. His longest run in this game was 5 yards.
- Richardson is most definitely a sell-high in both redraft and dynasty leagues, capitalize on this moment because the media and analysts DO believe this was a changing of the tide, which means your league mates will too.
- Josh Downs (5-84-1/5) produced well, and did it without Flacco. It didn’t look as good/natural as when Flacco was in but it worked. I suspected this last season, and we saw a bit of it before Downs was hurt, but he is the #1 in Indy, not Michael Pittman (5-46-0/8).
Jets Offense:
- The worst of the two QBs this game was Aaron Rodgers (22/29 for 184 yards, 2 TDs). Rodgers doesn’t have time in the pocket to throw the deep ball so he’s throwing tons of screens to Breece Hall (16-78-1; 7 catches for 43 yards, 1 TD), or quick stuff to Davante. Anything downfield has to be nerve-racking for Jets fans.
- Breece Hall had a nice game, taking advantage of the 28th-ranked run defense in the league, and all of the screens and check-downs helped push him to a high-end performance.
D/ST Report:
- Sauce Gardner (4 tackles) has totally lost his feel for playing corner, I’m not sure what happened but he’s going from locking up an entire side of the field to getting burnt by Michael Wilson and Adonai Mitchell (1-33-0/2). The fall of Sauce and DJ Reed (4 tackles) has been the downfall of the Jets defense. Since firing Saleh they are averaging 9 more points against.
image source: (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)