Colts Cast: Colts miss opportunity to take next step, fall to Ravens 24-10

The Indianapolis Colts had their best shot to take out one of the AFC's top teams Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens. Though the Colts were without T.Y. Hilton, the Ravens were missing some big pieces and an entire unit of their defense couldn't even practice all week due to contact tracing issues. The Colts' defense was on point in the first half, but began to give up some yardage and points in the second half, as Lamar Jackson proved once again that he can't be silenced for an entire four quarters. With that said, the Colts' defense played good enough to win the game. The real issue has become the team's offense and it's remarkable inconsistency. Philip Rivers gambled possession of the ball when the team needed to build on the momentum they'd recently been handed by the defense. Jonathan Taylor had a critical fumble returned for a touchdown, and with those two mistakes alone, put the Colts in a hole the offense simply couldn't come back from. At the moment, the only answer for this Colts' offense is sustained possessions because they simply don't hold much of a big-play threat to opposing defenses. Zach Pascal has been reliable, and Michael Pittman has been another quality possession receiver for the Colts, however, with Hilton being forgettable so far this season, and with a potential-and-consistency struggle with Marcus Johnson, the quick-strike potential just isn't impressive for the Colts right now. The Colts don't have much time to lick their wounds with a divisional game Thursday night against the Tennessee Titans on the horizon. Is the Colts' offense in real trouble going forward? Will the running game ever achieve what it needs to for the offense to be effective? Can Rivers carry the offense with intelligent decisions the rest of the year, or will he continue to be a net-negative when the team faces any sort of adversity? We'll see soon enough. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices