The Indianapolis Colts are one of the surprises in the NFL this year. After putting a 38-24 beatdown on the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, the Colts climbed to 6-1 on the season, lead the AFC South by two games over the Jacksonville Jaguars and are currently the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
A big reason for the team’s success is quarterback Daniel Jones, who had to beat out the No. 4-overall draft pick in the 2023 NFL Draft Anthony Richardson for the starting job in training camp. He must be doing well, because no one has heard Richardson’s name all season until he hit himself in the eye with a rubber band in pre-game warmups a week ago.
Colts head coach Shane Steichen says he’s not surprised at all by Jones’ success.
“It’s just the preparation that he puts in day in and day out,” Steichen said. “He’s making big-time throws getting us in and out of the right play. We can all feel it, so we take it one day at a time and we’ve got to keep doing it each and every week.”
Steichen thinks Daniel Jones has always been a good quarterback
On the season, Jones has completed 71% of his passes for 1,790 yards, 10 touchdowns and just three interceptions. It’s the kind of efficient football that the Colts were hoping for when they signed him to a one-year, $14 million contract this offseason.
Steichen said on Monday that he’s always thought highly of Jones. Yes, even when he was with the New York Giants.
“I think he’s played well his whole career, to be honest,” Steichen said. “That’s me. When I watched the tape, when I went back and looked at it, I think he’s been a great player this whole time. To get him here and to see the success he’s having with the guys that we’ve got, it’s not a surprise to me right now at all.”
I know that’s easy to say, but c’mon.
If we extrapolate Jones’ numbers into a full 17-game season, Jones is on pace to throw for roughly 4,355 yards, 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Don’t lie, you’d never have guessed that in August.
Daniel Jones’ teammate says his confidence sets the tone
Jones has always had the physical tools to be a good quarterback. He wasn’t a first-round draft pick for nothing. It always seemed like he just needed some success (and any good players outside of Saquon Barkley) to give him a confidence boost.
“When your quarterback’s playing with a confidence level that high, I think everyone in the offense feels it,” Colts center Tanor Bortolini said. “And I think as an offense, that gives us more confidence as a whole to go out there and know that no matter what they do, if we go out there and do our jobs, we go out there and execute, we’re going to score every drive.”
The team’s record would back Bortolini up on that. And there isn’t really a reason to believe that the winning won’t continue when they host the powerhouse Tennessee Titans this weekend. The Titans may want to just save the airfare and hotel expenses and call it a day.
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