Playing in the friendly confines of Lucas Oil Stadium, the Colts decided to unleash their running game against the visiting Jacksonville Jaguars. Coach Frank Reich knew the Jags’ weakness against the run and was aware that the Jags had traded away their best defender cornerback Jalen Ramsay. It was also the first start of the season for Nick Foles. Foles had come to Jacksonville in the offseason from the Eagles. An injury had kept him on the sidelines for the first half of the season. Reich is familiar with Foles. He coached him to a Super Bowl victory with Philadelphia before he came back to Indy.
The Horseshoe starting wideouts were Zach Pascal and Chester Rogers, yet another reason to go to the running game. The first half saw some mediocre play by both teams, but the Colts offensive line got down to business and started opening lanes for Marlon Mack to gain yardage to the tune of 109 yards on 14 carries in the first half. He ran for a 13 yard touchdown run in the second quarter that was poetry in motion. It will be on highlight reels for years to come. The bad news is that Mack fractured his left hand and will miss several games.
The Colts got themselves squared away at half time and when the third quarter began and the defense really started bearing down on Foles. It worked as Foles was hurried and harassed which led him to make some key mistakes. Linebacker Darius Leonard is back to full form. Once again he made life miserable for the Jaguar offense. Speaking of offense Jonathan Williams took Mack’s place in the backfield. Williams has been in the league since 2016 when he was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the 5th round. He was considered a special teams player when he played with the Bills and then the New Orleans Saints before coming here this season. In his first extended play in any NFL game he gained 117 yards on 15 carries and caught a 31 yard pass, all in the 2nd half. The Jag defense was wondering “Who the heck is this guy?” He set up touchdown runs by Brissett and Nyheim Hines. The Colts had their best win of the season and are now in first place in the AFC South. The media still likes the Houston Texans better than the Colts mostly because of DeShaun Watson. He is certainly the best quarterback in the South Division and was even being considered an MVP candidate for a while. If you look at the Colts team statistics you have to wonder how they are doing as well as they are. They are mediocre in just about every offensive and defensive stat except team rushing. The Colts play the Texans Thursday night in Houston so that game may tell us which is the better team.
Browns vs. Steelers Ends Disastrously
What should have been a season highlight for the Cleveland Browns with a dominant win over the arch rival Pittsburgh Steelers ended as a game that will live in infamy in the annals of NFL history. With 8 seconds to go the Steelers were lined up next to their own end zone, when their quarterback Mason Rudolph dropped back to pass. To say that Rudolph had played a bad game would be charitable. He was simply awful against a fired up Brown defense that smelled blood. Anyway Rudolph got off a pass just as Browns defensive end got to him and knocked him down, Garrett had been wreaking havoc in the Steelers backfield all game long. Rudolph yelled at Garrett for hitting him late. As Garrett slowly stood up Rudolph kicked him in the groin. An enraged Garrett ripped Rudolph’s helmet off and started pummeling Rudolph’s head with it. Rudolph had already suffered a concussion earlier in the season so the Steelers were angered about this. Steeler lineman David DeCastro and Maurkice Pouncey rushed to Rudolph’s defense and Pouncey threw some punches at Garrett and others.
There was then a melee of players from both sides of the field. As Rudolph stood up and seemed to be looking for an official to throw a red flag he was blindsided by Brown’s defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi and knocked to the ground. Finally after about 20 minutes the game resumed. Garrett, Pouncey, and Ogunjobi were ejected from the game.
As a result Pouncey was suspended for a game, Ogunjobi for three games and Garrett for the rest of the season. Rudolph was fined but drew no suspension. A number of defensive players across the league felt that this was unfair and since Rudolph instigated the situation and didn’t walk away from it he should have been suspended for at least a game. Myles Garrett is appealing his suspension. As for the game, fans will be talking about the “helmet incident” for years to come.
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