5 Colts Things: Matt Goncalves’ first NFL start, funky defensive looks, checking in on AFC playoff race after Week 9 loss to Vikings The Colts lost, 21-13, to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium, falling to 4-5 on the 2024 season.
1. The Colts’ offense wasn’t able to build on their first possession.
The Colts’ two longest plays of Sunday night came on consecutive snaps on their game-opening drive. First, Joe Flacco connected with tight end Kylen Granson for a 22-yard completion on third-and-one; on the next play, Jonathan Taylor dashed 13 yards on a rush.
Those two gains moved the Colts to the Minnesota Vikings’ 26-yard line, but a handoff from Flacco to Taylor went awry, leading to a fumble recovered by safety Harrison Smith.
“We gotta execute that,” Taylor said.
After that possession, the Colts’ longest pass play was also 22 yards – which came on Adonai Mitchell’s spectacular catch along the Colts’ sideline – and their longest rush was a 12-yard pickup Ashton Dulin had on a jet sweep.
“Those are always tough,” head coach Shane Steichen said of the Colts’ drive-ending turnover in the first quarter. “When you’re moving the ball and you have the turnover there, but you’ve got to find ways to bounce back from them. The environment that you’re in, with the crowd noise and stuff, you’ve got to find ways to keep the momentum going.”
The 44 yards the Colts gained on their first possession were the second-highest total for any drive on Sunday night; the Colts’ three longest drives by net yards gained all did not end in points.
“I got to keep looking at what we’re doing offensively,” Steichen said. “We’ve got eight left. We’re halfway through the year now. And just kind of look at scheme stuff and what we’re doing, and go from there.”
2. Matt Goncalves held his own against a tough challenge.
Goncalves, the Colts’ third-round pick from Pitt, made his first NFL start on Sunday night with left tackle Bernhard Raimann (concussion) out. He didn’t allow a single pressure on the Colts’ first nine drives, per Pro Football Focus, though he was tagged with two pressures and one sack allowed on the Colts’ last-ditch final possession.
“I thought he battled in his first opportunity for sure,” Steichen said.
The combination of an aggressive, talented Vikings defense and a deafening crowd at U.S. Bank Stadium presented a major challenge to Goncalves, but he – like fellow rookie offensive linemen Dalton Tucker and Tanner Bortolini – competed and held his own in his first opportunity as a pro.
Goncalves credited veterans Ryan Kelly and Quenton Nelson with good communication throughout the night to help keep Minnesota’s blitz-heavy pass rush largely at bay.
“Quenton giving me the calls and Ryan communicating that to him, they did a great job,” Goncalves said. “We didn’t skip a beat. It’s just unfortunate we didn’t come up on top.”
Goncalves said he felt settled into the game pretty quickly – the Colts ran behind him a few times on their opening drive, and he cleared out defensive tackle Jerry Tillery to help spring a 13-yard run by Taylor. But he also left U.S. Bank Stadium feeling like there was more he could’ve done in his first start with the Colts, which for him was bittersweet given the outcome of the game.
“It’s tough. You want to win every single game you go out there and play,” Goncalves said. “You’re trying to manage the emotions all day, especially with it being Sunday Night Football. There’s a lot we gotta clean up and a lot we can grow on for sure. I think I can play better in the end there where I gotta hold my blocks a little bit longer, that’s on me.”
Instant Reaction: Colts’ offense struggles in primetime loss to Vikings
3. Inside Zaire Franklin’s interception.
The end result of this play looked like Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold threw an ill-advised pass right to Franklin, but there was a lot more that went into the veteran linebacker’s interception.
The Colts rushed four and dropped seven players into coverage on this third-and-three snap from their own 16-yard line midway through the first quarter. Defensive end Laiatu Latu’s pressure forced Darnold to step up in the pocket, and then he escaped to his left to avoid defensive tackle Raekwon Davis.
Moore and Franklin both had eyes on Darnold, with Moore closer to the line of scrimmage than Franklin on the left side of the play. As Darnold escaped pressure, Moore took off toward him and Franklin dropped deeper into coverage – as tight end T.J. Hockenson tried to work into space behind him in the end zone.
Moore’s pressure meant Darnold couldn’t scramble for the first down. Darnold forced a throw, and Franklin picked it off for his second career interception.
But the way Moore and Franklin played off each other on this play was the product of them having plenty of experience on the field together – and of a conversation that experience led to them to having.
“He broke the pocket — that’s something me and Kenny had talked about before, playing off each other,” Franklin said. “I saw Kenny go for the quarterback, so I rotated back in coverage, saw (Hockenson) there, jumped in the throwing lane and he threw it to me.”
It was Franklin’s first interception since he picked off Buffalo Bills quarterback Mitch Trubisky in Week 11 of the 2021 season.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Franklin said. “For me to make a play in the passing game, it’s something I was really working at.”
4. The Colts’ defensive line is getting increasingly funky – and it’s working.
With the Vikings nursing a four-point lead and facing a third-and-11 at the Colts’ 40-yard line, even a gain of five or six yards could’ve put Minnesota into field goal range. As Darnold got to the line of scrimmage, he saw one of the funkiest looks the Colts’ defensive line has shown all season.
The Colts had three down linemen – defensive tackle DeForest Buckner was lined up on the outside shoulder of right tackle Brian O’Neill. Defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo was lined up over the B-gap, between left guard Blake Brandel and left tackle Cam Robinson. Defensive end Kwity Paye was lined up as a wide-nine well outside Robinson.
Three yards off the ball, over center Garrett Bradbury, was Franklin. About a yard behind Franklin, just off the linebacker’s right hip, was defensive end Laiatu Latu.
