They are now the story of the early NFL season.  Not just the Indianapolis Colts, who moved to 3-0 Sunday with a 41-20 victory over the Titans in Nashville, but their resurrected quarterback, Daniel Jones, continues to take the league by storm.  It's early in the season, yes, but I'm starting to think this might not be a mirage. This might just be who they are. 

Can that be?

Can they really be the blooming juggernaut we've seen here through the better part of the first three weeks? (OK, `juggernaut is overstating it, but you get the idea.)

Have the Colts finally found a successful veteran retread for the first time since fossilized but effective Philip Rivers?

Has Jones saved Chris Ballard and Shane Steichen's jobs?

Everything is working, and working beautifully (although they did finally punt for the first time all season something that got Steichen and the coaches in the booth, upsetting Steichen and the offensive coaching staff). Jones, Indy's 11th quarterback since Andrew Luck's 2019 retirement,  continues to be this year's Sam Darnold story, the tale of a New York refugee who got a second shot and took full advantage. Do we allow ourselves to believe that Jones is the Colts' answer at quarterback both this year and beyond? Should the Colts already be working on an extension of his one-year deal?

Yes and yes. 

The word on Jones in New York was that he was washed, skittish under pressure, a dink-and-dunk artist who had lost his confidence, his job and his way. Then he got to Indianapolis, paired up with Shane Steichen and the Colts' offensive coaches, and rediscovered whatever it was that made him so special in 2022. This is not the quarterback who was benched in favor of Tommy DeVito last season in New York. Not even close.

You saw it early. It was a third-and-7 at the Tennessee 45-yard line with 3:35 left in the first quarter. Jones dropped back, eluded a pair of onrushing defenders, saw a hole in the middle, took off and scrambled 17 yards for the first down. Not only has Jones been calm under pressure, he's actually invited it. The first two victories came against two of the heaviest-blitzing teams in the league, Miami and Denver, and Jones tore them apart. 

"That was huge," Steichen said of Jones' third-down conversion. "We were kind of on the edge of field-goal range and obviously we're trying to get it there and they brought some pressure for him to get out of there and scramble for the first down, (that) was a huge play for us. 

"I think he's just seeing it really well. He's seeing it really well, getting us in and out of the right plays, delivering the ball with accuracy. He's playing really (well) right now."

All game long, he deftly navigated the pocket and made throws both on- and off-platform, plus a lot of passes off the bootleg. He spread the ball around, four to Alec Pierce for 67 yards, six to Michael Pittman Jr. for 73 yards. He made the layups and he made the tougher throws. This is currently a quarterback in full, feeling like he hasn't felt since the 2022 playoff year in New York. 

This could have been a trap game, coming on the road after two big victories and before a pending date on the road with the Rams. This could have been one of those letdown games, coming against an 0-2 team that is rebuilding with top draft pick Cam Ward. 

It wasn't.

The Colts took care of business in the kind of game they need to win if they're going to be a bonafide playoff contender. And they got help from the Titans. Ward threw a lollipop that was intercepted and returned for a touchdown by Kenny Moore II. The Titans, the most penalized team in the league through two weeks, committed eight more fouls for 68 yards. They managed to take a delay of game while setting up a long field-goal try, one that only became longer. The kicker, Charlie Slye, missed it from 60 yards.

Then, late in the game, the Titans insisted on huddling up and burning clock on a long touchdown drive. Did anybody tell Tennessee coach Brian Callahan he was trailing by three scores? Clock management much?

So this is the question: Is Daniel Jones the real deal or will he be like Carson Wentz, who got off to a reasonably good start in 2021 only to fall apart -- the whole team fell apart -- in the last two weeks of the season?

Probably best to not get too, too far ahead of ourselves, but the early returns are exceedingly promising. This is the most points the Colts have scored through three games since 1958 in Baltimore. Indiana Jones is saving the day. Just like in the movies. 

Bob Kravitz is an award-winning columnist who has been in the sports journalism business for 43 years. He's worked at Sports Illustrated, the Indianapolis Star, The Athletic and other publications, and is now an Indiana-based publisher at Roundtable Sports. You can follow him on X @bkravitz.