The Indianapolis Colts avoided disaster on Sunday in London.
There’s no other way to describe what it would’ve meant if they lost to Washington Commanders third-string QB Athan Kaliakmanis in his first-ever NFL appearance after being a seventh-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
So yeah, crisis averted. But maybe only for now.
Because even in a win that doesn’t look close at all on the scoreboard, the Colts faced a problem. Daniel Jones, again, wasn’t very good.
The Colts are 2-2 now, which is a lot better than 1-3.
But if they want to finish 10-7, or something like that to have a chance at the playoffs, Jones is something that will have to be addressed.
Daniel Jones Problem
The Jones stats on Sunday were downright awful.
Passing, he was 19-for-34 for 143 yards. He threw an interception and was sacked twice.
His first sack was on the first drive of the game, and he stumbled backward and fumbled the ball away to the Commanders.
He did run twice for five yards, including a dive to the pylon for a touchdown, but that didn’t really save his day in any way, beyond avoiding the aforementioned disaster.
The reality is that Jones struggled immensely, summed up in one tweet by ESPN’s Stephen Holder:
My issue with Jones right now is the overall lack of pocket awareness. Second week in a row he’s throwing off his back foot late vs pressure. Got picked off last week. Got lucky today. This is awful QB play.
People can mock him, but this generally didn’t happen last year.
— Stephen Holder (@HolderStephen) October 4, 2026
Holder is pointing out the major contrast at play here.
Last year, when the Colts began 8-2 and looked like the best offense in football, Jones was the best version of a game manager. He made absolutely no mistakes. It’s like he knew exactly what to do on every single play.
Now, he’s making all sorts of questionable decisions.
And with those come a decision for the Colts.
Anthony Richardson Looms
No, the Colts won’t be benching Daniel Jones this week. They may hesitate to do it at any point this season.
But if Jones has regressed to the level he played at early in his career with the New York Giants, for whatever the reason might be, that’s not good enough to get the Colts where they want to go.
This is the last season under contract for Anthony Richardson, yet the Colts haven’t traded him yet. That suggests they at least somewhat believe he can still help them this season.
Maybe he’s solely there for injury insurance. But maybe, just maybe, Richardson is still on the team in case this very thing happened to Jones.
The questions will be asked, or at least thought: What are the Colts going to do about Daniel Jones?
If they don’t answer correctly, it won’t matter that they avoided disaster in London, because the rest of the season won’t be good enough anyway.
Colts Can’t Avoid Daniel Jones Question