Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Indianapolis Colts 30-10: Quick Notes

Despite some downright awful calls by the referees, the Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Indianapolis Colts with ease to move to 8-4.

The Jacksonville Jaguars were tasked with beating a lesser opponent at home today and they did so, as they took down the Indianapolis Colts 30-10.

The game was as lopsided as the score indicates, but it was not a typical Jacksonville performance. The Jaguars rushing attack was dead from the onset and Blake Bortles was forced to put the team on his back – he did.

The Indianapolis offense had more success this week than they did in their previous matchup, and it’s clear the Jacksonville defense misses star linebacker Telvin Smith.

Still, the Jaguars managed to win easily and keep pace as they march towards the playoffs.

Here are a few notes from the game as the Jaguars move to 8-4.

• The Jaguars were an extremely balanced team in the first half and a big reason why was the play of quarterback Blake Bortles. Maligned through most of this season, Blake has played well against the Colts historically and that continued today. Blake was sharp in the first two quarters, going 14/20 for 157 and two touchdowns. His fade pass to Keelan Cole for the undrafted rookie’s first career touchdown was a thing of beauty.
• Blake continued his stellar play in the second half and the team actually needed it – the defense looked uncharacteristically soft at times in the third quarter, and they gave up another long touchdown on a broken play to T.Y. Hilton.
• The Jacksonville defense looked (for the most part) about the same as they did in their first matchup with the Colts, allowing their division rivals to move the ball on a few drives but clamping down in the red zone. The run defense was clearly hampered by the absence of star linebacker Telvin Smith, but veteran Paul Posluszny had a nice day in his return to full time duty. Rookie Blair Brown also looks like a nice find as he filled in well for Telvin on the outside.
• “Those tricky Jags!” – the Jaguars pulled out yet another fake punt and it worked again. This time, instead of snapping it to the upback for a run, Brad Nortmann threw it to a wide open James O’Shaughnessy for a big gain to keep a first quarter drive alive. Head coach Doug Marrone is clearly comfortable with taking risks on those plays and it’ll be interesting to see how many more times it might happen – or if he’ll continue being so bold in the playoffs.
• While the outcome was good for the Jaguars overall and we won’t complain about a win, there is still a big concern coming out of it – the Jacksonville running game appears to be broken. Fournette had a few nice runs early but he was met in the backfield far too often and he was also hesitant to plant his foot and burst through some holes when they were there. The Jaguars won this game because of Blake Bortles, not the running game..