INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Daniel Jones stood at a podium in a small area adjacent to the visiting locker room at SoFi Stadium, answering questions about yet another extraordinary performance by his current team's offense.
As he talked through his responses, his eyes drifted a few times toward a TV on the wall to his left.
On that TV was a broadcast of his former team desperately trying to hang on in the fourth quarter. They didn't, as the New York Giants lost, 33-32, to the Denver Broncos.
Where Jones' feet were, though, was in Southern California, where the offense he commands – the Indianapolis Colts – dismantled yet another defense, this time in a 38-24 win over the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday at SoFi Stadium.
The past, for both Jones and the Colts, really feels like the past.
The 2025 Colts have the best offense in football through seven weeks. They entered Week 7 averaging a league-best 32.3 points per game; that number now sits at 33.1 points per game. No Colts team in the Super Bowl area has scored more points than this year's squad through the first seven games of a season – not Manning or Luck or anyone got to the 232 points Jones has marshaled.
But with one very big exception, this Colts' offense doesn't feel like it's doing anything special. These points aren't being scored because the Colts are hitting difficult-to-sustain deep shots or making low-probability plays over and over again. It's not coming in spite of a bunch of turnovers or sacks, the sort of plays that ultimately can break a game or a season.
The answer to why they're scoring at this historic clip is pretty boring, actually.
"It doesn't feel like we do anything out of the ordinary or crazy," Jones said. "I feel like it's just simple execution, play after play."
The exception, of course, is Jonathan Taylor, who rushed in touchdowns of 23, 19 and eight yards to collect his third game with three rushing touchdowns this season. The last player to have three games with three or more rushing touchdowns in a season was Derrick Henry in 2021; it's Week 7 of 18, and Taylor's already hit that mark.
"Honestly, if you take out JT — the things JT's doing are kind of crazy," wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. said. "But we're just executing plays, and Danny's doing a great job."
The Colts averaged 6.9 yards per play and churned out 401 yards of offense against the Chargers; they converted five of 11 third down tries but all three of their fourth down attempts, including a four-yard touchdown from Jones to Pittman. They scored touchdowns on four of their five trips to the red zone against a Chargers defense that entered Week 7 second in the NFL in the red zone (42.9 percent touchdown rate allowed).
The lone miss in the red zone? It came because the Colts got all the way down to the Chargers' 19-yard line just before Michael Badgley hit a field goal to end the first half.
"Our guys do a great job of preparing and executing for different looks that we can get down there," head coach Shane Steichen said. "Ton of respect for the Chargers defense and what they do, they've been really good. So a lot of respect for those guys and their coaches. I think our guys are just executing at a high level."
There were some big-time plays in here – it wasn't all just ruthless efficiency. Facing a third-and-17 early in the second quarter, Taylor knocked Khalil Mack to the ground on a physical chip block, taking the future gold jacket recipient out of the play and giving Jones plenty of time to rip a deep corner throw to Pierce for a 48-yard gain.
After the Chargers struck quickly to open the second half, the first play of the Colts' ensuing drive was a play-action rollout pass from Jones to rookie tight end Tyler Warren. Warren caught it, turned upfield and gouged 29 yards away from the Chargers, sending a signal: You guys might start scoring, but we won't stop swinging, either.
Then, on the Colts' final offensive play of the second half, Steichen decided to leave no doubt. With the Colts up 14 and facing a third-and-10, Jones zipped a throw to Pierce, who physically made a catch beyond the sticks for a game-clinching first down.
"You love the opportunity to end the game with the ball in your hands," Jones said. "And you know, the coach trusting us to make a play."
Trust is a good word here. Across the board, the Colts offense has earned the trust of everyone involved, and it's showing up on the scoreboard and in the box score every week.
Steichen trusts his offense – why wouldn't he? Taylor trusts his offensive line; his offensive line trusts him to make them right no matter what.
"The defense is always wrong with him, it seems like," left tackle Bernhard Raimann said.
And Jones trusts everything around him. He trusts his head coach and play caller. He trusts his protection – he trusts his offensive line to win their matchups and sort out blitzes, and he trusts his running backs (especially Taylor) to be where they need to be to pick up blitzing defenders with technique and physicality. He trusts his pass-catchers to be where they should be within the timing of a play.
And Jones, clearly, trusts himself.
Through seven games with the Colts, he's now had six games in which he's taken one or fewer sacks and had a passer rating over 100.
With the Giants, the team that demoted and released him a year ago, he had five of those games. In six seasons.
Jones took those glances at the TV showing his former team without breaking verbal stride in talking about his current team. What matters is the player Jones is right now, not the player he was in New York.
And all you need to do is take a look at what the Colts are doing this year to realize it.
"Once he got here, I really saw the complete opposite of what everybody was making him out to be," Pittman said. "Having our own experiences with him, he's been the same guy since Day 1. I don't know why the media portrayed him out to be a guy he's not."
