Daniel Jones is getting asked to do a job the Colts haven’t built for him, and Stephen Holder doesn’t sound interested in pretending otherwise.
After Indianapolis got hammered 42-7 in Jacksonville, JMV opened his conversation with ESPN Colts reporter Stephen Holder on The Ride with JMV by saying flat out that he can’t watch Jones anymore. Holder’s response was just as blunt: the quarterback’s success has always depended on the right setup, and this version of the Colts isn’t providing it.
“He only succeeds in optimum situations,” Holder said. He pointed back to early last season, when the offense had more going for it.
Alec Pierce was stretching the field, Josh Downs and Tyler Warren were making plays, and Michael Pittman was doing his thing. “None of that is happening now.”
Holder didn’t let Jones off the hook, though. “I am not absolving Daniel Jones,” he said.
“He’s playing awful, but I think the Colts also set him up for failure.” In Holder’s view, the burden on Jones is too heavy because the surrounding cast simply isn’t doing enough.
The conversation then turned to Shane Steichen, with JMV asking why the head coach is still in place after a loss he described as more embarrassing than the Tennessee defeat that cost Chris Ballard his job. Holder’s answer was that the bigger picture already seems set.
He said it looks like “decisions have already been made,” and pointed to the team’s trades of key veterans. He also said he expects Jonathan Taylor to be traded too.
From Holder’s standpoint, firing Steichen now would only create a short burst of relief. It would satisfy fans “for like 24 hours,” he said, but it wouldn’t solve the deeper problems or clarify where the franchise is headed.
He also noted the Colts don’t have an obvious interim coach waiting in the wings. His read is that the organization will finish the season and sort out its direction in January.
JMV pushed back, arguing that fans who have been “put through the wringer” deserve a change and that if it doesn’t matter, the team should make one anyway. Holder called that “a fair point.”
The discussion also touched on Josh Downs, whose public trade request has only complicated his situation. Holder said he doesn’t fault players for wanting to get paid, but believes Downs handled this in a way that “probably hurts him more than it helps him.”
He added that the Colts may have been willing to pay Downs this offseason, but other teams are looking at a receiver whose production hasn’t matched the noise around him. “His value is not what he thinks it is,” Holder said.
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