Saints vs. Colts: Indianapolis Grades, Notes and Quotes

The Indianapolis Colts opened the season with a pair of losses to the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets that looked incredibly similar. Poor starts on offense, turnovers and plenty of mistakes dug the team into a hole early that was too deep to climb out of.

Those games were a distant memory after three consecutive wins and a loss to the New England Patriots that the Colts kept close throughout. But against New Orleans Sunday, Indianapolis was back to its old ways and it wasn’t pretty.

Three first-half turnovers helped the Saints build a 20-0 lead at halftime, which would increase to 27-0 early in the third quarter. Without a running game Indianapolis struggled to find consistency on offense, and a late push was too little too late in another head-scratching defeat for the Colts.

Once again Andrew Luck played poorly, the offensive line was beaten throughout and the defense was unable to stop New Orleans until the game was already out of hand. The loss drops Indianapolis to 3-4 on the year and 0-4 against teams outside of the AFC South.

Position Grades for Indianapolis Colts

AJ Mast/Associated Press

Position	Grade
QB	C-
RB	C
WR	B
TE	C-
OL	D
DL	C+
LB	C
DB	D+
Special Teams	F
Coaching	D

Returning from an injury absence against the New England Patriots, Andrew Luck looked the best he had in the Sunday night matchup and was expected to repeat his performance against the Saints. Reality could not have been farther from the expectations, though, as Luck played one of his worst games of the year, despite two touchdowns, and looked lost at times in the opening half.

T.Y. Hilton's pair of long touchdowns and Donte Moncrief's big game were the saving grace of the skill position players, who were hamstrung by Luck and the offensive line's poor early. Frank Gore needed to have a big game but could never get going, and the Colts had to abandon the running game early with the deficit growing quickly.

Perhaps the season's most underrated player has been Colts linebacker D’Qwell Jackson, who leads the league in tackles this season and was huge again on Sunday, but the rest of the defense was exceedingly mediocre.

The Indianapolis pass rush was better, but it was still poor overall, while the Saints running game was nearly unstoppable despite coming in as one of the league's worst. As many expected Drew Brees didn’t face a ton of resistance in the secondary either, as New Orleans had its pick of what to do on offense for the whole game.

The unit the Colts could most rely on for their top-level play this season has been the special teams, but as with the rest of the team, Sunday was a day that needs to be quickly erased from memory. Pat McAfee was still great, as he always is, but a Saints fake field goal set up their first score and a fumble on a kick return set up the third in Indianapolis' worst special teams performance of the year.

Turnovers a Big Problem for Indianapolis

AJ Mast/Associated Press

For two weeks it appeared the Indianapolis Colts had solved their turnover problems. After compiling 12 in the first four games of the season, Indy didn’t turn the ball over against the New England Patriots or the Houston Texans.

But Sunday against the Saints, what has been the biggest issue for Indianapolis this season was on full display, with a trio of first-half turnovers putting the game out of reach early and leading to the Colts dropping their fourth of the season.

Andrew Luck's terrible decision to throw resulted in an interception that led to a New Orleans touchdown. On the ensuing kickoff Griff Whalen fumbled the ball, which turned into another Saints trip to the end zone.

At the end of the second quarter, with the Colts desparately needing points to get back into the game, Luck made another bad read and threw another pick, this time in the end zone, killing the team’s lone promising drive of the opening half.

Indianapolis would manage to hold onto the ball throughout the second half, but the damage had already been done, and there was no coming back from the issues created before the halftime break.

Indianapolis Is Lucky It Plays in the AFC South

Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press

It has been well-documented at this point how the Indianapolis Colts have dominated the AFC South under Andrew Luck and been an average team against the rest of the league, but this season things reached their extreme.

After the loss to the Saints, the Colts are 0-4 against non-division opponents but are 3-0 against the AFC South, keeping them atop what is arguably football’s worst division.

Indianapolis has struggled through the season's first half, unable to find an offensive rhythm in the opening couple of weeks, barely winning three in a row against the Tennessee Titans, Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans and then losing to New England before Sunday’s embarrassing defeat.

If it weren’t for the fact that the Colts have an indescribable ability to beat the teams in their own division, any hopes at a playoff spot would largely be extinguished at this point.

There are plenty of issues facing Indianapolis this season, and the Super Bowl hopes before the season seem like something akin to a fever dream, but as long as Indianapolis is in the AFC South and its division foes don’t improve, you can’t count the Colts out of the playoff picture.

Phillip Dorsett Injured After Big Hit

R Brent Smith/Associated Press

This season has been a good one for Indianapolis wide receivers, even if the team isn’t quite living up to preseason expectations as a whole. T.Y. Hilton has been phenomenal, Andre Johnson has improved in recent weeks and Donte Moncrief has shown why Indianapolis has such high hopes this early in his career.

But while the other receivers have all found their niche in the offense, first-round draft selection Phillip Dorsett hasn’t been quite as prevalent. A big-play receiver so far as the team’s leader in yards per catch, Dorsett is No. 5 on the team in receiving yards with a touchdown to his name.

Midway through the second quarter against the Saints, with the Colts already in desperation mode as the mistakes piled up and the lead grew, Dorsett was the recipient of a big hit and limped off the field to the locker room.

Ruled out for the rest of the game after the injury, Dorsett finished with one catch for eight yards in Indianapolis’ most disappointing performance of the season. The injury isn’t as debilitating as one at a thinner position would have been for the Colts, but with the receiver missing time, it isn’t something the team will be too pleased with.

Having spent a first-round pick on Dorsett just to see him get injured a few weeks later is not the scenario the team pictured back in April, and the big-play ability will be tough to replace for a team that needs to find some sort of rhythm offensively.

Andrew Luck on Turnover Problems

AJ Mast/Associated Press

Against the New England Patriots, Andrew Luck looked back to his old self even though the game's final result wasn't what the team was hoping for. But Sunday against the New Orleans Saints there was a regression to the player he was to start the year and the Colts paid for it.

Throwing multiple interceptions for the 3rd time this season, Luck was not pleased with his performance against the Saints, according to Kevin Bowen of Colts.com, and knows he needs to improve:

"

Andrew Luck: “Obviously, I’m not happy with the way I played…I’m frustrated with myself, with some egregious turnovers."

— Kevin Bowen (@KBowenColts) October 25, 2015"

With the loss Luck falls to 1-4 as a starter this season and has looked a shell of the player he was in his first few years in the league. If the Colts are going to dig out of the hole they are in already, it starts with improved play from their quarterback.

Anthony Castonzo on His Play This Season

R Brent Smith/Associated Press

It has not been a good season for the Indianapolis Colts offensive line, which, despite a switch with the hopes of solving their biggest issues, has struggled to keep Luck safe all year. But for left tackle Anthony Castonzo, things have been particularly bad.

Holding penalties and an inability to consistently keep pressure off Luck has Castonzo frustrated this season and, per Zak Keefer of the Indianapolis Star, has a pretty harsh assessment of his own quality of play:

"

Asked to grade his play this season, Anthony Castonzo said this: "I've been f----- terrible."

— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) October 25, 2015 "

As a unit the offensive line has been one of the league's worst, but Castonzo's play has stood out as arguably the worst of the bunch. The number of penalties needs to be reduced, and a big jump in performance quality needs to come soon or the Colts risk treading water as the season goes on.

Chuck Pagano on Poor Start to the Game

R Brent Smith/Associated Press

Indianapolis fans will point to the Colts' late push for a comeback as a positive, but the fact is that a team as talented as Indianapolis should not be in that position to begin with.

Falling behind 20-0 by halftime and 27-0 before finally breaking into the scoriing column, the Colts were out of the game early and only made it close in the end because of a desperate push. Coach Chuck Pagano was not pleased with how the team played in the first half, according to Mike Berman of Indy Sports Central:

"

Pagano: "The first half was unacceptable." pic.twitter.com/P1bnFI0aOK

— Mike Berman (@MikeBermanIndy) October 25, 2015"

This isn't the first time this year the Colts have fallen behind early and failed to get going until late in the game. It is a trend Pagano and the team need to kick if they are going to keep any hopes of a playoff run alive.