10 Colts thoughts on a clutch, gritty win over the Titans

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Ten thoughts on the Colts ' 20-17 win over the Titans :

1. Anthony Richardson was a last-minute scratch as the Colts wanted to give him an extra week to heal up from the hip and oblique injury he suffered against the Steelers. That meant turning again to Joe Flacco, who looked like a backup quarterback -- one who can give the Colts a shot to win but who isn't going to create the win.

There's no controversy here, just extreme caution with a player the Colts still hope can be the face of the franchise. The decision did shift the tenor of what would turn out to be a slow burn of a game in Nashville between two teams trying to find a way to stay away from the basement of the AFC South.

The Colts won that battle by making just a few more plays in the passing game. But it gave us plenty to get into from Josh Downs and Michael Pittman Jr.'s heroic efforts to the defense's lack of playmaking to a run game stalled to the injury situations that are becoming a major storyline this season.

Josh Downs turns in another great game

2. The opening-drive touchdown to Downs was a perfect deployment of skill sets in the right moment.

The Colts had just converted a third down with a chunk play to Mo Alie-Cox that injured Quandre Diggs, who was living as the single-high safety on the previous down. With the three-time Pro Bowler out of the game, and after a delay for injury, Shane Steichen dialed up a fade route from the slot so that Downs could put a linebacker on rollerblades with no free safety capable of reacting in that amount of time.

That was the start of third straight great game for Downs, even as he was dealing with a toe injury this week. He turned in seven catches for 66 yards and a touchdown, and I'm not sure the Colts would have had a place to go on third downs if he wasn't on the money.

3. This was the third game in a row that the Colts have scored a touchdown on the opening possession, which is their best streak since the 2020 season.

They're immensely better using the script than the rest of the game because when that shift from plays to players naturally happens, the spotlight grows on some roster holes that Steichen is having a hard time overcoming, namely at tight end and backup running back. With Jonathan Taylor out and Pittman as limited as he is with the back injury, the playmakers are just in short supply right now to make plays outside of the scheme.

On one third down near the goal line, the Colts spread the defense out and spotted man coverage, which is what they've been wanting on those downs with Richardson. But Flacco isn't a scramble threat, so he locked into a slant route to Downs from the slot, but the defensive back knew exactly where the ball was going at the snap and ran the slant route for him.

Getting Richardson and Taylor back will be huge just to get some options.

How Colts receiver Michael Pittman went from out to star

4. Pittman has been dealing with a back injury to some degree since Week 3, but it's the kind of injury that he said flares up from time to time. It flared up again last Sunday, and Pittman needed an MRI coming out of the game.

The Colts saw something severe enough that they expected him to miss some time, but then he was willing and able to practice on Friday. He became a captain this season based largely on his ability to be available and perform on high volume through nicks and knacks, and trying to make it work for a divisional battle where losing would drop the Colts to 2-4 became a priority.

5. It's tricky because, like Taylor's ankle, Pittman needs a certain level of fluidity in the back to play his style of football, which is making tough catches in traffic and running for yards after the catch through the middle of the defense.

But he does have the natural skills, adrenaline and will power to create the occasional play when the Colts have to have it, as he did on the 10-yard jump-ball touchdown catch over L'Jarius Sneed and on the 16-yard catch against Sneed in man coverage on the final possession to seal the win.

Incredibly gutsy performance for a player who was supposed to miss some games.

6. The Colts had a chance to sign Diggs or to trade for Sneed this offseason before deciding to run it back.

Sneed was never one they considered, which made enough sense given the price tag between salary and draft capital and the fact that to maximize it, he'd need to be able to slide into the nickel at times, and that's what they wanted to pay Kenny Moore II to do.

But Diggs is the kind of cerebral veteran with ball skills this secondary could have used to elevate the room whether injuries hit or not. The Colts could have used a playmaker when Will Levis floated a pass up out of danger in the red zone, but Julian Blackmon wasn't able to corral the interception at the goal line.

Colts defense is just good enough

7. The ills of this defense were on display again, with just enough of a rise back upward in the clutch moments.

The run defense wilts in difficult moments, like on 3rd-and-19 in the red zone, and is bankable enough to opposing offensive coordinators that they are able to build a script to keep quarterbacks like Levis and Malik Willis out of danger. They did rise up to stuff a 3rd-and-1 run by Tony Pollard that gave them the chance to come back, though.

The injuries to the defensive line have sapped the one area of upside and playmaking on the unit. The Colts have now gone nine quarters in a row without a sack, though Dayo Odeyingbo's pressure in the face of Levis led to a forced throw into a covered fade that let Blackmon intercept the ball.

8. Gus Bradley tried blitzing more in this one. He sent Zaire Franklin a few different times, on run and pass downs, but twice Levis was able to buy time and find the open receiver for a first down.

If they're going to blitz, E.J. Speed, Kenny Moore II and Nick Cross all bring better skill sets to do so than Franklin. The issue is that taking Cross or Moore out of coverage poses tons of risk to this secondary, but it'll be forgiven if the rusher gets home. That rusher needs to have the juice.

Why don't the Colts have a strong backup running back?

9. Taylor missed his 11th game to injury in the past three seasons. It's life for most running backs, and the Colts were looking out for it when they hedged on signing him to an extension early last season.

It makes it more puzzling that after Zack Moss filled such an essential role as his backup last season, turning in 794 yards to become a starter with the Bengals, that the Colts didn't find a better backup than the third- and fourth-string players they had at the time.

They felt that on the goal-to-go scenario late in the third quarter, where they ran inside zone three straight plays and saw no day light with either Goodson or Sermon and settled for a 22-yard field goal while trailing by a touchdown.

10. Now that the Colts are in this spot, though, they need to start Goodson over Sermon, especially whenever Richardson can't play.

When the Colts tried to run an outside zone with Sermon, he was chased down from behind by Harold Landry. A fast defensive end on the back side can ignore the quarterback if there's no run threat and catch Sermon from behind. It won't matter what the offensive line is doing when that is the case.

Goodson showed his speed on the 33-yard run in the second quarter where he looked shot out of a cannon. That's his advantage as a former wide receiver. Sermon needs to be more of a change-of-pace option against a tired defense or the player to convert in short yardage.

See you next week from Lucas Oil Stadium, where we will hopefully see some starters back against the Dolphins.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: 10 Colts thoughts on a clutch, gritty win over the Titans