The Indianapolis Colts may not have come away with a win in Week 1 against the Houston Texans, but it was far from a disaster.
Considering what some other teams put on the field to begin the season, the Colts fought tough in a 29-27 loss at home. Losing is never ideal, but there were plenty of positives to take away from the game.
Even so, this is a results-based business, and the outlooks of teams will reflect as such.
In the latest NFL power rankings from Vinnie Iyer of Sporting News, the Colts dropped two spots after the loss against the reigning division champions.
"25. Indianapolis Colts (23)
The Colts should be happy to see Anthony Richardson healthy and delivering as a dynamic dual threat, making big runs and deep balls look much easier than they are. They should be really concerned about having more holes than expected defensively," Iyer wrote.
Richardson was both erratic and electric during the season opener. He completed only nine passes, but he threw for 212 yards and two touchdowns while adding another 56 yards and a score on the ground.
The bigger concerns come on the defensive side of the ball where the Colts allowed the Texans to dominate the ground game. Joe Mixon and the Texans offensive line bullied the front seven en route to 213 rushing yards as a team — 159 of which went to Mixon.
Meanwhile, C.J. Stroud had no issues against the secondary for the most part, completing 24-of-32 passes for 234 yards, two touchdowns and a 115.9 passer rating.
The Colts will have a chance to bounce back on the road against a Green Bay Packers team that is likely to be without star Jordan Love so it will be interesting to see how they respond.
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