The Indianapolis Colts will take on the Jacksonville Jaguars in their Week 5 game, Sunday at 1 PM EST.
The Colts enter the game this week coming off their first winning streak of the new season. In two and two, the Colts have won back-to-back home games and will try to extend their streak to three. The Jaguars enter Week 5 having lost their first four games of the season, their head coach in the hot seat and a highly paid “generational receiver,” with their franchise quarterback completing just 53% of his passes on the year.
If this game was played anywhere else, I would feel comfortable predicting a Colts win, even with Anthony Richardson and Jonathan Taylor missing the game due to injury. But Indy hasn’t won at Jacksonville in 14 years. 14 years ago was a simpler time. Andrew Luck was playing football, Peyton Manning was playing football, and I hadn’t met my ex-wife yet. And 14 years ago was the last time the Colts beat the Jaguars in Jacksonville.
In 2020, Frank Reich led the Colts 11-5. That season the Jaguars went 1-15. Their only win was against the Colts.
The Indianapolis Colts represent Urban Meyer’s only win as an NFL head coach.
For 14 years, no matter the circumstances, it was Colts vs. Colts. Jaguars are an automatic win for the bad guys. Will this be the year Indy breaks the curse? After all in years past when the Colts were much better than their opponent, they lost the game. This year Indy is missing its starting quarterback, running back, and nearly half of the team’s starting lineup the other day. So I think this could be a good time to break the curse, but I don’t see it.
Doug Pederson is coaching his job, and like I just said, the Colts are missing nearly half of their starting lineup this week. Even if the Jaguars win just one game this season, it feels like it should be this weekend. Just as the Cowboys and Lions always play on Thanksgiving Day, the Colts’ loss to the Jaguars in Jacksonville feels like an annual NFL tradition, and certainly the worst annual tradition in existence. But imitation is all the same.
If the Colts somehow win this game, we should build a statue of Steichen outside the stadium.
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This is your open thread for Week 5, so you can hang out here and chat, celebrate, commiserate and discuss in the comments! Go wild (within reason)!
Go ponies!
