Week 1 could not have gone much worse for the Indianapolis Colts, and the rookie class got swept up in the mess along with everybody else.
The Colts fell 41-23 to the Baltimore Ravens, and there wasn’t much to point to on the positive side. Even Jonathan Taylor coughed up a bad fumble early, while the coaching staff looked unready for the moment.
Defensive communication was shaky, and that’s not something the first-year players can be blamed for. They were learning on the fly in a game that was already slipping away.
Still, when a rookie class produces no real bright spots, that’s a problem. The overall grade from this opener would have to land at an F, even if the season still has plenty of room to change.
The clearest no-show was linebacker CJ Allen, who didn’t play a snap. The explanation from the team has been that injuries in training camp slowed his development, but the timeline raises questions.
Allen missed seven practices between July 29 and August 15, then did get preseason work in, logging 61 snaps. Fellow rookie AJ Haulcy missed six practices between August 25 and September 8 and still managed 67 defensive snaps in Week 1.
That makes Allen’s complete absence look less like caution and more like a lack of trust. For now, the Colts didn’t seem comfortable using him on defense or special teams against the Ravens.
Haulcy at least got on the field, but his night was uneven. He finished with five tackles and didn’t miss any, which was the good part.
After that, the tape got ugly. He was targeted three times in coverage and gave up two completions, including a 54-yard touchdown.
He also had one run stuff, but he spent 35 snaps against the run and wasn’t effective enough. That said, some of the chaos around him came from the bigger defensive breakdowns.
On a unit struggling to line up and communicate, the rookie safety was dealing with more than just his own assignments.
Inside linebacker Bryce Boettcher had a mixed debut of his own. He contributed on special teams with a tackle and was steady enough in that phase.
On defense, he was involved in six tackles but missed two of them, and that kind of finish rate won’t play well for an inside linebacker. He was also targeted once in coverage and allowed a 17-yard completion, with five of those yards coming after the catch.
Even so, he wasn’t the biggest issue on a Colts defense that had plenty of them.
Running back Seth McGowan had one play that stood out: a 66-yard kick return. Outside of that, there wasn’t much to celebrate.
He handled four more kick returns, and those averaged just 24.5 yards apiece. He also got six offensive snaps, including two in pass protection, and that’s where things really went sideways.
On both blocks, he allowed pressure, and one of them became a sack. For a young back trying to earn more opportunities, that’s a major problem.
Pass protection is part of the job, and McGowan didn’t show he can handle it yet.
As for the rest of the rookie group, G Jalen Farmer and WR Deion Burks only saw special teams action, though that was still more than CJ Allen got. Edge rusher Caden Curry also worked in the third phase and added three defensive snaps, but he didn’t record a statistic. Of that bunch, Curry may have been the cleanest story of the day simply because he didn’t make mistakes while others were tied to the blowout in a more direct way.
One rookie from the draft class, George Gumbs Jr., did not play at all. He was listed as inactive and served as a healthy scratch.
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