[Colts And Orioles]

o


In the short-term, what happened with Daniel Jones and the 2025 Colts was the ideal storm for disaster ...... Jones broke his fibula and continued to play on it, which affected his play, which affected the Colts' W-L record. And of course after Jones went down with a torn Achilles tendon and the Colts had to rely on 44 year-old Uncle Phil to carry the offense, that also affected the Colts' W-L record.

In the long-term (2026 and beyond), Jones' broken leg and the subsequent collapse of the 2025 Colts may wind up inadvertently being the best thing that could have happened to the Colts for their plight in 2026 and beyond ...... the Colts will certainly not have to give Jones for a premium, long-term contract because of his injury(s) and the team's subsequent collapse of the 2025 season. For myself and a few other starry-eyed dreamers, we believe that this 2025 Colts team was much closer to the team that started the season at 7-1 than to the team that limped to a 1-7 record in their 8 most recent games. Prior to Jones breaking his fibula, the Colts weren't just beating bad teams when Jones was healthy, they were stomping them ...... they won by a score of 33-8 over the Dolphins, 41-20 over the Titans, 40-6 over the Raiders, 38-14 over the Titans ...... yes, those were bad teams that the Colts were beating, but previous Colts teams would almost always play down to their competition and either barely beat the bad teams, and sometimes lose to them. Additionally, the Colts spanked the Chargers on their homefield in Los Angeles ...... the Colts had a 38-17 lead in the 4th quarter, and coasted to an easy 38-24 win ....... and the Chargers are one of the best teams in the NFL with a record of 11-4 outside of that loss to the Colts. Finally, the schedule itself was absolutely brutal going down the stretch, which coincided with Jones' injury(s) which severely affected and ultimately ended his season.


FINAL VERDICT FOR THE 2025 SEASON: ) The Colts are 8-8, and neither Kray nor myself can dispute the fact that that is a mediocre/middling record for the 8th time in Chris Ballard's 9 year tenure as the team's GM ...... the lone exception was the 2020 Philip Rivers season, when the Colts made the playoffs with an 11-5 record and took Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills right down to the wire in the post-season game which was played on their home-field in northwestern New York State.


THE COLTS IN 2026 AND BEYOND: ) Neither Kray nor myself can prove for a fact that the Colts' 7-1 start to the 2025 season is necessarily going to be what the team will become in 2026 and beyond ...... but that happens to what we both believe, and so we'll stand here on this lonely island, continuing to support Chris Ballard and our beloved Colts in the foreseen future.

o