INDIANAPOLIS — The message from the Indianapolis Colts this season has been focused on worrying only about themselves and not what other teams around the NFL are doing. Publicly acknowledging they scoreboard-watch from time to time was of no interest to them.
Guess what?
The Colts can no longer say those things after they embarrassed themselves by blowing a 17-point second-half lead in their loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
Yeah, the Colts do have to worry about themselves when it comes to Sunday’s Week 17 game against Jacksonville. But they can’t deny that they won’t be looking at what is going on in the early games prior to their 4:25 p.m. ET kickoff against the Jaguars.
That’s because the Colts need one of three things to happen before their game in order to be in position to make the playoffs for just the second time since 2014.
If any of those things happens, the Colts will simply need to beat the Jaguars to lock in a playoff spot.
As a bonus, the Colts could be in position to win the AFC South if Tennessee loses at Houston. That, of course, is if Indianapolis beats the Jaguars.
Because the Titans-Texans game kicks off at the same time as Jaguars-Colts, the Colts will still have something to play for at kickoff. But Sunday will be their last game of the season if the Ravens, Dolphins, Browns and Titans all win.
So yeah, there will be plenty of scrolling on phones in the locker room and looking up at the gigantic scoreboard inside Lucas Oil Stadium. They have an 80.4% chance of making the playoffs, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index.
“We no longer control our own destiny,” Colts coach Frank Reich said. “But all we can do is take care of our own business, and that means learning from this film, having a good week at practice and then finishing up the regular season with a great performance, and then hopefully we get some help.”
In a normal season, winning 11 games — even 10 games — would be good enough to make the playoffs. But the AFC is deep this season. There’s a chance the Colts could be the first team since the 2008 New England Patriots to miss the playoffs with 11 victories.
That would be tough to swallow for Indianapolis, which up until Sunday was on a roll, winning five of its previous six games.
“It’s pretty crazy to think that a team with 11 wins is going to be sitting at the house [during the playoffs],” linebacker Darius Leonard said.
The Colts would have nothing to worry about other than beating the Jaguars had they been able to finish off the Steelers. The Colts thoroughly outplayed Pittsburgh for the first 30 minutes and took a 24-7 lead early in the third quarter before being outscored 21-0 the rest of the game to put their playoff aspirations in jeopardy.
“It’s kind of the way the NFL rolls,” Colts center Ryan Kelly said. “It’s a very unpredictable league. Going into the game we knew we could control our own destiny with a win, and after the first half, everybody thought it would happen for sure. And then we took our foot off the gas in the second half. It stings. We need to win and have some things happen. It’s a crazy league.”
On paper, it would appear that the Colts wouldn’t have a problem beating the Jaguars and making the playoffs — assuming one of the teams that needs to lose does. Jacksonville has nothing to play for other than the role of spoiler. The Jaguars already have locked up the No. 1 overall draft pick, which likely will be Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
But the Jaguars continue to challenge the Colts no matter their record. Jacksonville is 7-3 against Indianapolis in the past 10 meetings, including a 27-20 victory in Week 1.
“I have to believe that 11 [wins] is going to be enough,” Colts quarterback Philip Rivers said. “It’s only been one or two times ever that it’s not been. Obviously I know — I’m not denying that we don’t need help, but I think let’s control what we control. We certainly, I know I do, still have a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth from Week 1. So, find a way to get to 11-5 and go from there.”
Source : ESPN
