When the Colts and Ravens meet on Monday Night in primetime, this won’t be the first time the Matt Eberflus lead defense will go up against Lamar Jackson and the Ravens potent rushing attack. In Week 8 of the 2020 season the Colts led the Ravens at halftime 10-7 and did an effective job at keeping Lamar Jackson at bay.
Voice of the Colts Matt Taylor joined JMV during his show Friday to go over what the Colts did so well in the 1st half last season and what they need to do to replicate it on Monday:
“In the 1st half last year of that game, the Colts only allowed 55 yards of offense to the Ravens and they shut their offense out. They had 7 points at half but that came via their defense and a Jonathan Taylor fumble. They had 211 yards of offense in the 2nd half and Jackson was really good. He was 80% competition percentage, over 200 yards and 2 TD’s. Teams have tried to make Jackson beat them by throwing the ball and this season he has! 2 of the biggest 3 passing games in his career have come in the last two weeks.”
In order for the Colts to pull off the upset in Baltimore, they need Carson Wentz to play like the QB Frank Reich envisioned when they traded for him. Matt Taylor sees similar starts to Wentz and how Philip Rivers performed in the Frank Reich offense a year ago:
“We saw it last year with Philip Rivers, we saw it in 2018 with Andrew Luck. He takes these QB’s and really improves them in one or multiple QB areas, whether it’s passer rating, yards per attempt, or interceptions. Carson Wentz is playing very very well right now. I think he’s balancing when to throw the ball down the field while protecting it at the same time. I think there is a comparison to Wentz in week 4 and Rivers after week 5 last year. Both guys around the same time of the season are taking off at the same time.”
If Carson Wentz plays like Philip Rivers did in the 2nd part of 2020, the Colts will be very happy with the future of the QB position in Indianapolis. If you missed any of Matt’s conversation with JMV about the upcoming matchup against the Ravens, take a listen below!
