The Indianapolis Colts are off to the hot start that everyone predicted when they were writing about the OTA battle between quarterbacks Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson. The big debate was which superstud was going to put the Colts in their rocket ship and take them to heights never seen before at the pro level.
Following a 29-28 last-second victory over the Denver Broncos on Sunday, the Colts actually did make NFL history.
The Colts are the first team not to punt through their first two games, according to Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk.
“Indianapolis has still not punted through two weeks of the season, an unprecedented feat: No team in NFL history had ever gone without punting in its first two games of the season,” Smith writes. Going a game without a punt is rare, so rare that the Colts are the only team that has done it this year. And the Colts have done it twice.
Indianapolis Colts were impressive beating a 2024 playoff team
It’s pretty rare for an NFL team not to punt in a game. It happens, but most teams stumble at some point. So, in the first win against the Miami Dolphins in Week 1, it was cute that they scored on all seven possessions. After all, it’s more of a statistical anomaly (kind of like the cycle in baseball) than anything. Oh, and the Dolphins stink.
But, to keep that no-punting thing going against the Broncos was impressive because they are actually functional and good at football.
We knew we could compete with them,” tight end Mo Alie-Cox said. “We don’t fear anybody. Especially the way we played during camp, preseason, first game — we knew as an offense we have a lot of weapons here and a lot of stuff going for us.
“They came in here, everyone’s talking about how good they are, but we were talking about how good we are and what we can do. Just put it on tape – and that’s what we went out there and did.”
He’s right and the Colts proved it, even if they tried to bungle the very end by running some clock-draining plays so they could kick a chip-shot 60-yard field goal that they missed.
But, there was a leverage penalty, they made the next kick and all was well. Although, if they had missed that kick, they would have had the distinguished honor of not punting in the first two games and going 1-1.
Indianapolis Colts getting good play from quarterback Daniel Jones
I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but the Colts have actually gotten some really good play from quarterback Daniel Jones. On Sunday, he was 23-34 passing for 316 yards, one touchdown and no picks. He completed 67.7% of his passes and it’s now the second game in a row that he hasn’t thrown the ball to the other team.
“I feel confident, and there’s a great energy about our team, I think – about our offense, about our group,” Jones said. “I think we’re executing at a high level. I think there’s still things we need to do better.
“I think you look at some of the red zone stuff today, and things we can sharpen up down there, things I can sharpen up for sure. But collectively as a group, we’re confident about what we can be, and we know that we’re still growing and developing.”
It will be interesting to see how long Jones and the Colts can keep this punt-less streak going.
Indianapolis Colts Make NFL History with Win over Denver