Colts Cast: Examining Colts 34-23 Week 1 loss to Bengals

The Indianapolis Colts came into their Week 1 battle against the Cincinnati Bengals on a mission. Andrew Luck was back under center, the defense is young and was excited to show off their speed and on top of all that, a new play-caller in head coach Frank Reich as well. 34-23 looks bad, but this game was so much closer than the final score suggests. The Colts built themselves a halftime lead, and put up some cushion on their second drive of the second half to lead 23-10 halfway through the third quarter. But, it was the Bengals who put up 24 straight points to steal a game in Indy where they've never played well. We saw some very good things out of the offense; a patchwork offensive line did pretty well for themselves, they were excellent on third downs and we saw how quickly Andrew Luck could strike once he gets into a rhythm. Defensively, all Colts fans should be excited about what they saw out of the group despite the rushing yards, and a few hiccups throughout their performance. This group created pressure, turned the ball over and made the Bengals earn every play. The bend-but-don't-break approach is going to yield some big games in terms of yards, but this defense is going to be fun this year and look like a unit that is going to turn some games in the Colts' favor. We talk about all of this and analyze some individual performances from the Colts Week 1 loss. This is about as close to a moral victory as it gets. Now that Reich has popped his cherry, the honeymoon is over. The Colts now have some expectations to live up to. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices