Colts Fall To Raiders, But Still Control Own…

5. The Colts need to flush this loss, and fast.

T.Y. Hilton knows the Colts can’t take the Jaguars lightly. The veteran wide receiver hasn’t seen the Colts beat the Jaguars outside of Indianapolis – so either in Jacksonville or London – since 2014.

“We don’t play good down there,” Hilton said. “So better find a way, or we’re going to be out.”

Here’s the streak the Colts will look to end on Sunday at TIAA Bank Stadium:

• 2015: Jaguars 51, Colts 16
• 2016 (London): Jaguars 30, Colts 27
• 2017: Jaguars 30, Colts 10
• 2018: Jaguars 6, Colts 0
• 2019: Jaguars 38, Colts 20
• 2020: Jaguars 27, Colts 20

That’s bad news. The good news is 2021 is a new season – a season in which the Colts have responded to losses well from October on.

• Week 3: 25-16 L @ Tennessee | Week 4: 27-17 W @ Miami
• Week 5: 28-22 L @ Baltimore | Week 6: 31-3 W vs. Houston
• Week 8: 34-31 L vs. Tennessee | Week 9: 45-30 W vs. NY Jets
• Week 12: 38-31 L vs. Tampa Bay | Week 13: 31-0 W @ Houston

The reason why the Colts have bounced back so well is because they haven’t deviated from doing the things that got them to this point – in a win-and-in scenario to make the playoffs.

“It’s people being able to fall back on their preparation,” Taylor said. “I know a lot of times when things don’t go some people’s way they kind of change up the routine and things that they’ve done before. But you have to stay true to your routine, stay true to your preparation and believe that’s what’s going to lead you to success.”

And that’s the point Reich made after the game, too – this one loss doesn’t erase all the good things the Colts have done over the last few months.  

“We’re still the same team everybody’s been talking about,” Reich said. “We’re like anyone else, if you don’t come and just lose a little bit of an edge, if you just let your guard down just a little bit, you can get beat in this league. So, I didn’t think that was going to happen today. I thought we’d come out and have the edge that was needed to finish it out this week and to go in with a ton of momentum next week, but we’ll have to prepare this week.

“No givens next week. We know Jacksonville is good, despite, I saw the score flash, we know when we go to Jacksonville, it’s a battle. So, we got to have a great week of preparation and I’m sure it’ll be a tough fought game next week and we got to go earn it.”