by Cody Manning
The Indianapolis Colts are heading into Week 9 on a three-game losing streak which they will be looking to end as they travel to face the Carolina Panthers.
The Panthers are coming off their first win of the season as they look to turn their season around after a rough start. These two franchises don’t face each other often. They’ve faced each other just five times since 2003 and Carolina has won three of those contests.
Indianapolis had the last win in the series when they played in 2019. The head coach of the Colts at that time was Frank Reich. Four years later, the former head coach is facing his former team in his first season in Carolina after getting fired almost a year ago (Nov. 7, 2022).
This element brings more juice to this matchup. Here are five things to watch for when they hit the field late Sunday afternoon:
1) Frank Reich revenge game
As I alluded to, this isn’t a meaningless game between two teams that have an outside chance of making a run for the playoffs in the middle of the season because of Frank Reich being the head coach of the Panthers. The Reich era for the Colts had its ups and downs.
There was a lot of excitement about what he brought to the franchise as the head coach. He led the team to the playoffs in his first season but Andrew Luck’s sudden retirement hit him and the organization in the mouth. Something they hope they have finally figured out with Anthony Richardson.
Indy continued to be competitive under Reich. They played well with Jacoby Brissett and had another postseason appearance with Philip Rivers. Then it all went downhill. Reich’s influence on acquiring both Carson Wentz and Matt Ryan likely left a sour taste in Jim Irsay’s mouth with how both quarterbacks played under his head coach.
Then in 2022 with a lot of expectations, Reich’s team once again got out to a slow start and the offense severely regressed which led to his midseason firing.
You would think that this has left some animosity from Reich towards Irsay and the franchise, but publicly he hasn’t shown it.
“I don’t want to stand up here and make this a personal thing, because it’s not,” Reich said on Wednesday.
Whether he wants to admit it or not, you know that deep inside, Reich wants to stick it to the organization that let him go. This should be an emotion-fueled battle from a team that wants to win for Reich and his former players on the Colts who want to show out in front of their old coach.
2) Can Jonathan Taylor and Zack Moss dominate?
The Colts offense has been inconsistent over the last few weeks but mainly because of the play by Gardner Minshew and the passing attack. As far as the ground game, Jonathan Taylor and Zack Moss have been a silver lining in the offense over the past two games.
Taylor has looked like himself. In the last two weeks, he has 217 total yards and a touchdown. He got off to a great start against the New Orleans Saints and once again showed he can carry an offense to the redzone.
On the second drive of the game, he took three straight carries for 62 yards.
It was puzzling that Taylor ran the ball just once in the second half after his fast start, Shane Steichen can’t afford to not get the ball in his star player’s hands often throughout the game on Sunday.
But to be fair, Moss was running the ball well in the second half, and had an explosive play on a third-and-one.
Over the last two games, Moss has 136 total yards and a touchdown. The Colts have a great running back tandem and it should be something Steichen leans on going forward. Especially when they face one of the weaker rush defenses in the league.
The Panthers are allowing 139.4 rushing YPG, which is the fourth most allowed in the NFL. Over their last four games, they have allowed three running backs to run over 95 yards and have given up six touchdowns (five rushing, one receiving) to running backs.
This contest has the potential to show some explosive plays from the Indy rushing attack. Taylor and Moss should have a goal to reach a combined 200 total yards. If they can reach it, then I like the chances of the Colts leaving with a victory.
3) What’s the plan at cornerback?
With the expectation that JuJu Brents will be missing his second game in a row due to a quad injury, there is a wonder what Shane Steichen and Gus Bradley will do at cornerback. After giving no indication last week, it was a surprise when Tony Brown got the start with Kenny Moore II and Jaylon Jones.
It has been well-documented how much Brown struggled and factored into the success of the Saints passing attack, but after watching the game film, it wasn’t all on Brown, who has played primarily special teams in his career.
Bradley put too much trust in him. Left him on an island at times, including the 51-yard reception that sealed the win for New Orleans. On the touchdown he gave up, Rodney Thomas II made a bad read and should’ve been over the top to help Brown in coverage.
Despite that, it was apparent that Indy’s defense should consider different options in their secondary. As far as what that will be, Steichen gave no clues ahead of the matchup.
So will Brown get another crack? Does Bradley go back to Darrell Baker Jr.? Or slide Moore II outside in certain packages and utilize Nick Cross as the nickel?
Whatever Bradley decides, it can’t be the same approach that he had in Week 8. If it is, then expect Frank Reich and Bryce Young to attack that area of the defense.
4) Alec Pierce is due
Year 2 has been a quiet one for Alec Pierce but he has steadily come along over the past few weeks. He has three straight games with three catches. Pierce’s contribution this season has been solid outside of looking at the box score.
He’s done a good job in run blocking and has helped his fellow receivers get open with his routes. Something he did against the Saints that led to the offense’s first touchdown of the game.
While Josh Downs picks up first downs on third downs (11), Pierce has also been moving the chains for the offense this season when he gets the ball in his hands. On his 17 receptions, he’s picked up a first down on 82.4% of them.
That is the third-best percentage in that category across the NFL. Pierce had one this past week on a third-and-18.
Pierce is due to have his best game of this season. He has yet to cross the 100-yard receiving yard mark and hasn’t scored a touchdown this season.
Now that he is getting comfortable in his role, it should lead to more production from the second-year receiver. If the rushing attack dominates, then Pierce can add an explosive element to the play-action passing attack.
5) Get pressure on Bryce Young
There was once a time this year when there was speculation if the Colts would either trade up to the No. 1 pick to have their choice at quarterback. Chris Ballard elected to stand pat at No. 4 and it was the Carolina who made the move. Even after that, there was chatter about the potential of Bryce Young coming to the Colts if he were to drop.
That didn’t happen, the Panthers selected Young and Indianapolis drafted Anthony Richardson. Unfortunately, we won’t get to see the draft classmates face on Sunday.
Young’s rookie year has gotten off to a rough start. This hasn’t all been his play, more on a struggling offensive line and a unit that lacks talent at the skill positions.
The rookie quarterback is coming off one of his better games this season in the win over another draft classmate, C.J. Stroud, and the Houston Texans. He threw for 235 yards and a touchdown. Plus it was his first game where he didn’t throw an interception and fumbled the ball.
He’s only lost two of his four fumbles. There’s an opportunity there for the defense to take advantage of.
The defensive front has to be more active in getting pressure this week. It was something they struggled with against New Orleans and Derek Carr was able to carve up the secondary.
The Panthers have given up 25 sacks in seven games, which is tied for the third most allowed. This has to be a matchup that Kwity Paye and Samson Ebukam take advantage of.
Their impact has been limited lately and Gus Bradley needs more out of his edge rushers. If his defense can get home on Young, they can’t be fooled by his size, and make sure they get him to the ground.
With another week of question marks in the secondary, this is a game that has to be won by the defensive front. The Colts can’t allow Young to get comfortable and need to force third-and-longs often.
If Bradley can get that out of his defense, then his unit should have an opportunity to close out a win in the fourth quarter.
Originally posted on coltswire.usatoday.com