Getty Indianapolis Colts running back Nyheim Hines provided an honest assessment of his team's performance after they lost 24-0 on September 18.
Sometimes after a blowout defeat, it’s just simply better to call it how it is. That’s exactly what Indianapolis Colts running back Nyheim Hines did after losing to the Jacksonville Jaguars, 24-0, on September 18.
“We let our coach down. We let the state of Indiana down,” Hines said in his postgame interview to the media. “It was honestly just embarrassing.”
Hines isn’t one of the team’s 7 captains, but he’s been with the Colts five 5 seasons, and is an emotional leader for the offense and the entire roster.
Early on, it looked like Hines was going to play a big role for the Indianapolis offense in Week 2. The 25-year-old running back turned a short pass into a 19-yard gain on the first play from scrimmage versus the Jaguars.
But Hines only had 4 touches and 18 yards the rest of the afternoon while the Colts didn’t score a point. It was Indianapolis’ first shutout loss since 2018.
Hines Apologizes to Colts Fan Base Amid ‘Embarrassing’ Shutout Loss
While Hines wasn’t a complete pessimist, saying there are still 15 games left in the 2022 season, he didn’t really hold back in his overall assessment of Indianapolis’ performance against the Jaguars.
He even apologized to the Colts fan base.
“Obviously, this one sucks. It was embarrassing,” Hines said. “It’s hard for all Colts fans out there. It was really tough. We apologize for that, but we’ll [get] back to work.”
Despite being a bit of a sound bite machine, Hines was also at a loss for words when asked about why the Colts fell so flat in Jacksonville once again.
“We have to look back on the film, but I don’t understand,” Hines said. “We had a great week of practice. I thought we were ready to play, but obviously, they punched us in the mouth, and we ain’t punching back, and we got punched the whole game. I mean, we didn’t score.”
Hines added that he was “frustrated” and “flabbergasted” that the Colts didn’t have a single point. He also referred to not scoring as “not acceptable.”
Colts Lose Eighth Straight on the Road Against Jaguars
The Colts will return to Indianapolis following a blowout loss in Jacksonville with major questions to answer for the second straight season. The Colts were in a win-and-in scenario against the bottom-feeder Jaguars last year, but fell 26-11 in Jacksonville during Week 18.
That left the Colts with a plethora of offseason question marks. After this loss, though, at least the Colts have nearly an entire season to fix their issues.
The team will still likely have to wait one more season for another crack at ending its losing streak in Jacksonville. The Jaguars have beaten the Colts 8 straight times at TIAA Bank Field or Wembley Stadium (the teams played once during the Colts’ losing streak in London with the Jaguars as the technical home team).
Hines has been part of 5 of those losses, dating back to 2018.
“We haven’t been good down here it seems like the past couples years, and it’s gotten worse,” said Hines.
Interestingly, Hines didn’t question his team’s effort. Instead, he blamed the Colts’ execution and said the players “let our coach down.”
But he also added the Colts weren’t ready to play.
“[The Jaguars] came out there ready to play, and we didn’t, and it was obvious from the start of the game,” Hines said. “We’ve going to have to do from soul searching. We’re going to have to have some hard conversations. We’re going to have to pick this up.”