We're back with another edition of The Colts Show Mailbag, where I'll answer listener, viewer and reader questions here on Colts.com every week.
You can submit your questions to me a few ways: At Colts.com/Mailbag, on social media (like X and Instagram) and in the YouTube comments for the podcast. Be sure to get your questions in, since I'll get to one on next Tuesday's podcast edition of The Colts Show.
I didn't get to a question on this week's podcast given some time constraints, but it was a fantastic episode with Colts tight end Mo Alie-Cox joining me for a conversation about his role on the team, Jonathan Taylor and how long he could play in the NFL. You can get the podcast on all major podcast platforms including:
Let's dive into the rest of this week's batch of questions:
Andrew Coulter (Indianapolis): We have one of the toughest schedules in the NFL coming up. The Jaguars are only 1 win down, and Shane's play calling, especially late in the game, is becoming a part of concern on behalf of Colts fans. Do you think we're primed for another tragic midseason collapse? I sure hope not. What do you think the plan is going to be when going up against the top defense in the league, in the Texans? If you were the coach, which "game" would you try to run more of; the run, or the pass?
JJ Stankevitz: I get that the NFL is a "what have you done for me lately" league, and the AFC South getting tight is understandably creating some consternation here.
But Steichen's late-game playcalling wasn't a problem in Berlin, when the Colts were able to run the ball at will against the Atlanta Falcons – including on the final four plays of the game, which got the Colts from the Atlanta 33-yard line into the end zone.
Four possessions in Kansas City, for me, isn't enough to slam the panic button. Let's see how Sunday against the Texans goes.
As for the plan, I'm interested in seeing if Houston dials up more blitzes than usual given some of the Colts' offensive issues against five-or-more-man pressures in the last three weeks. The Texans enter Week 13 with the second-lowest blitz rate in the NFL, per Pro Football Focus, as their defense has consistently been able to wreck games by rushing four – led by defensive ends Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter – and playing tight coverage behind it. Will the Texans deviate from who they've been defensively to try to shut down the Colts' offense, or will they stick to what they've been great at this year?
And, no matter what Houston does, can the Colts' offense continue to operate with the sort of efficiency we've come to expect from them this season? Remember, prior to the fourth quarter of Week 12, the Colts were averaging six yards per play against the Chiefs – and that was without getting running back Jonathan Taylor going against a Kansas City defense that did some good things to slow him down.
It's probably easy to say the Colts could run the ball more, but if they're not getting the right looks from the Texans' defense, they might not find success pounding the ball into disadvantageous fronts. We'll see.
Nick Cuccurullo (Ashland, Pa.): Why do the Colts choke against good teams?
JJ Stankevitz: Eh. The Colts are 2-3 against teams over .500 this year, with wins over the 9-2 Denver Broncos and 7-4 Los Angeles Chargers and losses to the 9-2 Los Angeles Rams, 6-5 Pittsburgh Steelers and 6-5 Kansas City Chiefs; all three of those losses were on the road by one possession. The Colts have yet to lose a game at home this season. Let's see what happens in the next two weeks against Houston and Jacksonville before beginning to form any sweeping conclusions about this season.
Justin Thomas (Austin, Texas): First and foremost, I want to acknowledge how great of a job the team is doing and picking up eight wins which is way more than what we had last year so I'm super appreciative and it's a really awesome time to be a Colts fan. However, I noticed that we have trouble in high pressure games when execution is absolutely key. Partly due to the play calling for instance the Kansas City Chiefs had the ball for over eight minutes each possession, and we still decided to run the ball on third and one during overtime against a fairly energetic defense. The better play would have been a play action fake handoff to Jonathan Taylor in a run up the middle for Daniel Jones. Also, we did not attempt any deep shots down the field at all or if we did, they were far in between we need more of those to keep the defense guessing. My question is do we have a plan to be more efficient in the future because our schedule is only going to get harder in the playoffs are right around the corner?
JJ Stankevitz: Hitting a deep shot or two certainly would help; the Colts are 25th in deep passing (20+ yards) rate at 10.1 percent of their pass attempts. This offense isn't built on those, but it has effectively mixed them in throughout the season – though, against the Chiefs, Daniel Jones did not attempt a pass that traveled 20 or more yards beyond the line of scrimmage.
And Justin is right about the upcoming schedule – the Colts will play three games against two of the league's best defenses in Houston (Weeks 13 and 18, 1st in points allowed) and Seattle (Week 15, 7th in points allowed).
But again: The Colts' offense leads the NFL in scoring, percentage of drives with a score, EPA per play and success rate. We'll see soon enough if these two recent road losses to the Steelers and Chiefs were the start of a trend or blips amid a remarkably efficient 2025 season for the Colts' offense.
Aaron Taylor (Liberty, Ind.): Seems like a common theme that when we get a lead we "play it safe" and lose all momentum. I'm a fan of not beating a team but crushing them. Making them question their career choice. So my question would be, who do you think makes this call to let off the gas? And do they ever learn from this?
JJ Stankevitz: I don't know, Aaron – the Colts got their backups on the field in the fourth quarter of wins over the Miami Dolphins, Tennessee Titans, Las Vegas Raiders and Tennessee Titans again (with all those wins by 21+ points). They beat the Los Angeles Chargers by 14 on the road, with their offense continuing to punish the Chargers' defense even as Justin Herbert kept delivering on offense.
The Colts also decidedly did not let off the gas against the Chiefs. Fault them for what you will, but Steichen's offensive play-calling was not the product of a lack of aggressiveness.
Ian Hunsberger (Fort Wayne, Ind.): why does Shane forget he has the best running back in the NFL for half the game every week? We had 5 minutes to kill in the 4th and passed 3 times.
JJ Stankevitz: This series Ian is asking about is the one Steichen pointed to this week when asked about his play-calling in the fourth quarter. But I do just want to point out that Taylor carried seven times on first down for 14 yards, and three of those rushes lost yardage. Credit to Kansas City's defense, which was able to fire linebackers into the backfield enough to limit Taylor's production.
