Who's Who?

For both teams, this game means a lot. The Broncos are third in their division, separated by one conference WIN. (They are tied with the Chargers in every record metric. Overall, home and away, and divisional records.) A loss here would be rough for the Broncos’ playoff hopes, especially after tying up the division with Los Angeles with a win over the Browns last week. They face the Chargers, Bengals, and Chiefs in their last games, and each game will be challenging for their own reasons. Let’s jump back to the present. The Broncos have leaned on their defense all year. It’s 8th in the league in overall defense, and they are 2nd in points allowed. Vance Joseph, their defensive coordinator, has done a wonderful job this year in his return to Denver. While they are 21st in total offense, Bo Nix has thrown for over 1,300 yard and 9 TDs in his last five games. He’s figuring it out, and under Sean Payton, this team is poised to make some noise in their division. Maybe the playoffs. Because they’ve made noise as of late, winning eight of their last ten.

The Colts come into this game in a very similar situation. It’s a little sticky for sure, but they still could make the playoffs as they sit two games behind the Texans. Anthony Richardson has seemingly taken his benching well, as he seems to be more of a reliable leader and, has thrown more than half of his total regular season passing yards, in five games. The Colts have also won two of their last three games with Richardson starting, so they are trending in a positive direction. They do have some injuries to their offensive line, as starting right tackle Braden Smith will be out due to personal reasons. Ryan Kelly, their starting Pro-Bowl center, is designated to return from IR but his status for the game is up in the air. They will get their guard Taylor Bortolini back, as he passed concussion protocol and is cleared to play. The Colts are trying to win every game, and root against the Texans every day. Indianapolis’ last few games are against the Titans, Giants, and Jaguars, which is far more of a cake walk than the Texans end of year schedule, who face the Chiefs, Ravens and Titans. I’m taking the Broncos purely for their defense, but I wouldn’t be super shocked if the Colts could squeak one out.

POSTGAME:

If only Jonathon Taylor holds onto that football for one more second, this game might’ve had a different outcome, but that is what we call the butterfly effect. If you’re not sure of what I’m referencing, let me fill you in. After forcing an interception in the first drive of the second half, the Colts found themselves on the Denver 41-yard line, where Taylor ripped one off for a 41-yard TD. But upon further review, Taylor dropped the ball before crossing the plane. Face plant. How many times does this need to happen before players learn. Anyways, after that play, the Colts, who were up 6 points, didn’t score for the rest of the game and lost 31-13. The Broncos defense is for real, and another defense this week largely responsible for their teams’ wins. A botched trick play led to Nik Bonitto intercepting a lateral back to Anthony Richardson from Adonai Mitchell for 51 yards and a TD. And from there, it was really all downhill for the Colts, as they couldn’t claw out of the hole they dug for themselves.