Say what you want about the level of competition, but the Jaguars absolutely got the Colts’ best shot Sunday for what presented itself as a treacherous divisional road trip. Jacksonville’s been a thorn for Indy in recent years, especially when the Colts were the superior team and the Colts tried their best to repay the favor on Sunday in Anthony Richardson’s debut. Indy benefited from the positives of an up-and-down performance from the rookie quarterback, plus one of the more bizarre defensive touchdowns you’ll ever see. But ultimately Trevor Lawrence and Jacksonville’s much-hyped offense were just too much for the Colts to contain.
A strong Week 1 performance doesn’t guarantee anything for the full season, but it was impressive seeing how the Jags — picked by some pundits to make the Super Bowl — and Lawrence — a trendy MVP selection prior to the year — handled adversity and piled up 31 points to earn a decisive division victory.
Lawrence finished with just 241 passing yards on 24-of-32 passing but he also threw a pair of passing touchdowns, including an absolute dime to Zay Jones, who made an equally as impressive catch.
The Colts even tacked on six points courtesy of DeForest Buckner, who pulled off the extremely rare delayed scoop and score after sacking Lawrence.
Tank Bigsby learned a rookie NFL lesson the hard way, but it didn’t cost his team the game, plus the rookie delivered on his name, punching in a touchdown for the Jags. Travis Etienne also scored and piled up over 100 total yards and new addition Calvin Ridley was outstanding, with eight catches on 11 targets for 101 yards and a score.
Jacksonville hasn’t had this much hype since 2018 after the previous season’s run to the AFC Championship Game (shoutout Myles Jack, ask if he was down when you’re in Duval County) and much like the Lions, it was reasonable to ask if maybe things had gotten a little out of…
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