[Colts And Orioles]

o


Right now, we're all upset because of numerous missed opportunities in today's heart-breaking loss to the Eagles.


1) l McLaughlin's missed 50-yard field goal attempt, which sailed just a bit wide to the right.


2) l The Colts' failure to essentially end the game when they had to settle for a field goal instead of a touchdown when they had the ball 1st-and-goal from the Eagles' 5 yardline late in the 4th quarter.



However, just 2 weeks ago ......


1) l The Eagles were undefeated at 8-0, and some were even wondering if they had a shot to equal the Miami Dolphins' undefeated 1972 season.


2) l The Colts had just gotten absolutely steam-rolled by the Patriots, looking even worse than they did in their 24-0 shutout loss to the Jaguars in Week 2.



So ..... 5 minutes after that absolute disaster against the Patriots, coupled with the fact that the Eagles had a record of 8-0 at the time, most people probably would have suggested that you were living in some sort of alternate universe if you had predicted that the Colts would be leading the Eagles by a score of 13-3 at the start of the 4th quarter, and that the Eagles would need a late rally to barely pull one out of the fire for a thrilling, nail-biting 17-16 win.


Subsequently, I'm not so certain that a complete explanation of the Colts' current situation is that they simply got a temporary shot of adrenaline from their new head in their win over a below-average Raiders team last week ...... before today's game, many Colts fans were stating that even a close loss to the Eagles would be a good sign for the team going forward, if not necessarily this season then in 2023 and beyond. In fact, this was the second consecutive solid game for the offensive line, in a season in which good games from them have been rare (they've only had 3 solid games overall.)


Any loss sucks, whether it's a manhandling by the Patriots or a heart-breaker against the Eagles ...... but I wouldn't necessarily paint today's failure to secure the win when they had several chances to do so with the same broad brush that had the Colts looking like one of the worst teams in the NFL only 2 weeks ago.

o