Colts lose season opener 31-21.

The Indianapolis Colts' 2023 season opener showed significant promise, but not enough to get the win.  The Colts fell against the Jacksonville Jaguars 31-21 and fell to 0-1 to begin the season.  Sunday's season opener loss for the Colts now makes ten straight season openers without a win for the team. The majority of the […]

Destin Adams NFL News Writer
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Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson (5) looks downfield Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023, during a game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

The Indianapolis Colts' 2023 season opener showed significant promise, but not enough to get the win. 

The Colts fell against the Jacksonville Jaguars 31-21 and fell to 0-1 to begin the season. 

Sunday's season opener loss for the Colts now makes ten straight season openers without a win for the team. The majority of the game was a tight contest that the Jaguars were able to expand to a two-score game. The stars of the day were rookie QB Anthony Richardson and the defense as a whole, that had a strong afternoon. 

The achilles heel for the Colts today was their lack of a run game, as QB Anthony Richardson was the team's leading rusher with 40 yards, which was more than any of the teams RBs had on the day combined (25 yards). With Jonathan Taylor set to miss at least the first four games, the team will have to figure out something because today's performance simply can't be the norm. 

The duo of Trevor Lawerence and Calvin Ridley proved to be elite today as they connected for eight receptions, 101 yards, and one touchdown. This one should give the Colts many things to grow from going forward, but the team hung with a projected AFC playoff contender from the opening kickoff till the ending whistle. That is a big step in the right direction from last season's disaster. 

The highlight of the day for the Colts was a DeForest Buckner sack fumble that would lead to the Jaguars recovering until LB Zaire Franklin would cause another fumble, leading to the big man DeForest Buckner finding the endzone. 

Stat Leaders:

Passing

Anthony Richardson: 24/37 (64.9%), 223 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception

Rushing 

Anthony Richardson: 10 attempts, 40 yards (4.0 avg), 1 touchdown

Receiving

Micahel Pittman Jr.: 8 receptions, 97 yards, 1 touchdown 

Tackles

Zaire Franklin: 18 total, 10 solo

Sacks

DeForest Buckner & Kwity Paye: 1 sack

Interceptions

Tony Brown: 1 interception

The Colts will now look ahead to Week 2, where they will travel to Houston to take on the Texans. Which will set up a rookie QB duel between Anthony Richardson and CJ Stroud. 

Colts score craziest touchdown ever against Jaguars

I've been covering the NFL for 10 years and I've never seen anything like what just happened for the Indianapolis Colts. Take a look.  Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence fumbles as he gets it. A jags player then picked up the ball and Zaire Franklin makes the biggest  heads up move ever and realizes that the […]

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