EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Ten thoughts on the Colts' 45-33 loss to the Giants at MetLife Stadium that eliminates them from the playoffs:
1. This was another game where the Colts would face an overmatched opponent spiraling downward toward a top-five pick and would test their preparation and baseline to take care of business in order to stay in the wildcard hunt.
The verdict was a big fat flop on their faces.
By getting run out of the building by a team on a 10-game losing streak that's been suffering blowout loss after blowout loss with no semblance of offense, the Colts put forth a performance reminiscent of when they played 2-win Jacksonville in 2021 and got steam-rolled.
It's the kind of performance that should lead to changes, maybe lots of them.
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Why didn't Anthony Richardson play for the Colts?
2. The Colts decided to sit Anthony Richardson after he missed the full week of practice because, as a team source said, he was dealing with back spasms that they had hoped would clear up by Saturday but then it didn't happen.
The confusion came when Shane Steichen described his missed week as being "just sore all week, really sore," without indicating that there was ever a real injury taking place. Given Richardson's history with the tap-out and saying he was tired on the play, it cast the quarterback in another light of not being able or willing to hold up and give it his all at this level, which the team source then said was not the case after all.
"It was back spasms," Steichen said after the game. "It was bad. Like he wasn't able to go."
So, why did he say it was just soreness?
"I should have said spasms," Steichen said. "It was back soreness/spasms."
3. Steichen needed to grow from this kind of poor messaging since the way he handled the benching, and this was a sign that it hasn't happened yet. It leaves me to wonder what his relationship with Richardson is like with the way they've talked about each other publicly this season.
After all, Richardson said after the benching that he didn't know what to believe from his team. And Steichen has twice allowed narratives to build around Richardson's willingness and desire to play the game that run counter to everything Richardson says he stands for.
This season was supposed to be about the two of them growing together, but they've both regressed to the point where it's fair to question anything as a building block heading into next season.
4. Jonathan Taylor kept the Colts in this game the same way he won last week's game, by being an All-Pro and the one star player this team has that opponents can't just scheme themselves away from.
It was tough sledding for the first half on the ground, as the loss of Richardson eliminated a free block on the zone concepts and also made it obvious who was getting the ball out of the backfield for a defense stacking the box. But sticking with Taylor often pays dividends, as he's always one missed tackle or the right mix of blocks away from being able to break it the distance, like he did on a 26-yard cut-back touchdown in the third quarter to get the Colts right back in the game.
He finished with 125 yards and a touchdown on 32 carries, bumping him up to 1,254 yards and nine touchdowns on the season. It's his third time in five years hitting at least 1,100 yards and eight scores.
5. The details are where things slip and become mind-boggling for such a prolific player. We saw that on the 3rd-and-1 where Taylor went out of bounds while thinking he had picked up the first, on the 2-point conversion attempt where he dropped the lateral from Michael Pittman Jr. and on the pass from Flacco in the flats that hit him in the shoulder when he wasn't looking.
Of course, the season will always be remembered for the worst missed detail with the dropped ball in Denver. Though this performance from the Colts as a team showed that they're not just a dropped ball away from a higher gear.
6. Taylor and Michael Pittman Jr. are the two cornerstone skill players on this offense, and both showed out in this one.
Pittman still looks noticeably slower, playing through the back injury that's been limiting his movement since Week 5. But he turned in one of his high-volume and efficient games that have been eluding him in this trying season. Pittman finished with nine catches for 109 yards and a touchdown. It was his season-high in catch rate and catches, and it came at a critical time.
7. The frustrating part is, the Colts got what they needed out of Flacco in this one, which hasn't been the case with him as a starter before now.
He wasn't perfect, of course. His lack of mobility made managing the blitzes a little difficult, and he forced an early interception on a jump ball to Mo Alie-Cox. The pick late was bad, though to be expected if he's going to have to press that desperately.
But Flacco picked good moments to go down the field to Pittman and Alec Pierce, who turned in a terrific performance with six catches for 122 yards and a touchdown. Flacco finished 26 of 38 for 330 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions and 8.9 yards per attempt.
That should be more than enough to beat an offense as bad as the Giants, but for whatever reason, the Colts have only brought one side of the ball to play in almost every game this season.
Questionable Shane Steichen decision
8. I didn't understand why Steichen opted to run up the middle with Taylor on 3rd-and-8 to gain five yards and then pass up a 4th-and-3 against an overmatched opponent in order to attempt a 54-yard field goal outdoors and on the road.
The distance kicks are what have given Gay trouble this season, as he's now 3 of 8 on kicks of 50-plus yards. And it just seemed like a moment to take control of the drive and get into the end zone, whereas the miss set the Giants up with a short field goal they turned into another touchdown just a handful of snaps later.
Colts defense has its worst game of the season
9. This is the worst the Colts defense has played in any game this season, and that's hard to top with what they did in Jacksonville and New England. But the Giants came in with a backup quarterback, a banged up No. 1 wide receiver and a disaster of an offensive line and piled up more points in this game alone than they had in the past four games combined.
The second half tightened up momentarily when Jaylon Jones made a great play to blow up a toss on fourth down, but then the dam broke when Malik Nabers took a short pass, cut inside two missed tackles by Kenny Moore II and Samuel Womack and outran a horrible Zaire Franklin angle to score the back-breaking touchdown from 59 yards out.
That play summed up so much for this defense: terrible tackling and guys assuming there won't be a play and giving up on it. The same happened the next drive, and it made their bed in another playoff-less season.
10. Julian Blackmon missed a tackle by falling at the feet of Nabers on his 31-yard screen pass touchdown in the first quarter, and that's unfortunately summed up too much of this contract season for him.
After turning in his best season last year as a strong safety, Blackmon has struggled to make the splash plays or the basic ones this year, largely because he's been moved to free safety and is playing through a shoulder injury he suffered in the season opener. The Colts only gave him the one week off and then moved him to the back line of defense in the hopes of preserving him from making physical tackles. And that's where their collective struggles to tackle against the run or defend passes across the middle have exposed him.
This is why the Colts needed to sign a difference-making free safety when Justin Simmons and Quandre Diggs were available for less than $10 million this season. Not only do they need difference-making players, but they could also use to bolster the depth in some spots so they don't force players to play as compromised versions of themselves.
