The Colts have stacked back-to-back wins, but Daniel Jones hasn’t exactly made the ride smooth. Through four games, the quarterback’s play has been defined by mistakes, missed chances and an offense that still hasn’t found enough juice through the air.
The biggest problem is the one that keeps showing up on the stat sheet: turnovers. Jones has seven giveaways this season, and Indianapolis has lost the turnover battle in all four games. Since losing Alec Pierce, Jones has coughed it up five times over the last two weeks, a stretch that has only sharpened the concern around his decision-making.
That issue surfaced again against the Commanders. One week after Shane Steichen emphasized the need for Jones to “hold onto the ball” in the pocket, the quarterback fumbled on the second snap of the game.
Later in the first half, Jones forced another back-footed interception, killing off any chance of setting up a possible three points with Spencer Shrader’s leg. It looked a lot like the mistake Jones had made the week before.
“I think every turnover has its own story,” Steichen says. “I think there’s a lot that goes into it.
There’s some plays where you can live for another down and not force things. We’ve talked about having two hands on the ball in the pocket, which is a big part of it.
“But I think there’s a lot of things that tie into it, the protection, the route discipline, all that stuff. Play calls, making sure the calls are right to make sure guys are open.”
Even setting the giveaways aside, the passing game still isn’t giving the Colts enough. Jones is averaging a career-low 5.7 yards per attempt and ranks 28th among 29 qualifying quarterbacks in that category. That kind of number tells the story: too much underneath, not enough stress on defenses.
Some of that can be traced to Pierce’s absence, since he brings the deep-ball threat and attention that can change how opponents defend Indianapolis. Without him, the offense has been forced into a tighter, shorter passing game than it wants.
“We’ve got to do a good job of creating the explosive plays first and foremost, and scheming them up and trying to get balls down the field as much as we can,” Steichen says, acknowledging the need to improve that low yards per attempt number.
“That’s a big part and that’s a challenge for us every week. And we’ll work through those every week to try to get those explosive plays because it’s only going to help our offense for sure.
And I think in the run game, we’re pretty explosive in the run game with JT (Jonathan Taylor), but you want to be explosive in the pass game as well to balance that stuff out. So, we’ve got to do a good job of trying to find those explosive plays any way we can.”
The problems are familiar ones for Jones. Turnovers and a limited passing attack helped push him toward a benching in New York, and right now he looks far more like that version of the quarterback than the one Indianapolis saw during the first couple months of last season.
He’s also doing this less than 10 months after tearing his right Achilles, which naturally raised the question of whether that injury is still shaping his play. Steichen brushed that aside earlier this week.
“I can’t say that,” the head coach said. “He’s obviously ran for a touchdown. He moves around pretty good, so like that.
“We just got to get those things cleaned up moving forward, and I do feel confident that we’ll get that done.”
Four games is only four games, and in the NFL that’s not nearly enough to define a season. Still, Jones’ leash is long because the organization is invested in him. The expectation is that he can settle this down.
But if the Colts are going to keep moving forward, his play has to sharpen up fast. The turnovers need to stop, the passing game needs more punch, and the $100 million quarterback has to look a lot more like the answer.
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