INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The Indianapolis Colts throttled the Miami Dolphins on Sunday in their season opener, breaking a streak in which they've failed to win in Week 1 each year since 2014.
The Dolphins were a solid opponent featuring plenty of offensive firepower and a talented defensive front seven. However, even those comfortable enough to pick the Colts to win on Sunday, for the most part, didn't picture this: a 33-8 beatdown.
While "complimentary football" was the most popular phrase used in the locker room by players after the game, there was a particular player who stood out and quieted doubters everywhere, at least for the next week.
Quarterback Daniel Jones, who received much criticism when named the starting quarterback three weeks ago (including from yours truly, I'll own it), had his best game in years on Sunday, maybe one of the best of his seven-year career.
“It was huge," Colts head coach Shane Steichen called Jones' performance. "Like I said, we want to stay on schedule and complete balls. What were his stats? 22-of-29 for 272 (yards) and a touchdown and two rushing touchdowns. Yeah, he played good ball. We’ve got to continue that every week. It’s one week at a time. But that's the preparation he puts in. He was ready to roll, and guys went out there and made plays for him.”
Completing 75.9% of his throws for a yards-per-attempt of 9.4 and a passer rating of 115.9, Jones quelled many concerns that people had that he would just dink and dunk the ball down the field, and if he succeeded, would do so in unspectacular fashion.
Instead, Jones did it all. He threw accurately to the short, intermediate, and deep portions of the field, outside the hashes, and over the middle of the field. He identified issues before the snap and changed protections multiple times for plays that resulted in significant yardage. He even contributed 26 yards, a pair of goal-line touchdowns, and some first downs on the ground.
“He just changed the protection. He checked the protection on it, yeah," Steichen said of Jones changing the protection on a 21-yard completion to tight end Tyler Warren. "He made a few of those all game. There's a lot of that stuff that goes on. We had another one on fourth down where he checked it, and they brought zero (blitz), and he threw it to (Josh) Downs. So, he makes a lot of plays like that for us.”
The cerebral part of the game that veteran quarterbacks acquire over years of experience is the main reason Steichen named Jones the starting quarterback in the first place. The quarterback's ability to ensure his teammates and all offensive components are doing what they should is critical to Steichen.
“There’s no doubt," Steichen said of the positive impact of Jones' pre-snap reads. "There are all those little things. The game within the game. Those are conversations that happened in offensive staff meetings. And then he brings them to the offensive meetings, and he stands up and talks about it like, ‘Hey, here's what I'm going to do on this, fellas.’ And guys are all locked in and ready to go.”
As for Jones himself, this performance was a confidence boost for himself and the team, who now have a standard to uphold each week.
“Yeah, I think (we) gained some confidence from it," Jones said of the team's complete, authoritative win. "And like I said, I think the best teams can improve when they win and see what we still could have done better, and opportunities we missed, or things that weren't as sharp as they should have been, and grow from that.
"So, I think we have a mature team and guys who understand that mindset, but can definitely build some confidence from this win.”
Jake Arthur has been covering the Indianapolis Colts for over a dozen years and is a member of the PFWA. He's one half of the Locked On Colts podcast and has worked for the Colts' official website, On SI, and more. You can follow him on X @JakeArthurNFL.