Doyel: The Colts' future is now

Gregg Doyel | IndyStar

INDIANAPOLIS – Reggie Wayne pulled on the royal blue blazer with the ivory Colts logo, smiled a huge smile and told the truth: “This jacket looks damn good on me.” The jacket looked good on Peyton Manning, too. And Marvin Harrison, Jeff Saturday and Bill Polian. The gang was mostly back Sunday, welcoming Wayne into the Indianapolis Colts’ Ring of Honor during halftime, with Edgerrin James and Dallas Clark and of course bellowing, beaming Jim Irsay also making an appearance at Lucas Oil Stadium.

And on a day the Colts celebrated their past, they saw their future. And this future looks damn good on them.

Fueled by back-to-back draft hits and a rebuilt quarterback on a touchdown-throwing rampage, the Colts won their fourth consecutive game, their most impressive, most decisive win of the bunch, a 38-10 blowout of the AFC South rival Tennessee Titans.

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“This was as complete a game as you can play,” Colts coach Frank Reich said after his team outgained the Titans 397-263, won the turnover battle 2-0 and turned a monster punt return into a touchdown. “All three phases of football.”

And all of it against a Tennessee team that had beaten Dallas and New England by a combined 62-24 in the previous two weeks. It was a Tennessee team that lost quarterback Marcus Mariota (elbow) in the final minute of the second quarter, yes, but by then the Colts led 24-0.

Marcus Mariota wasn’t Tennessee’s problem.

The Colts were Tennessee’s problem.

Used to be, you had to squint to see the Colts’ future. Strain your eyes, fill in the gaps with the most positive spackle possible, and you could see the Colts might be onto something. Maybe. That’s how it used to be, I’m saying. Earlier this season.

Nothing maybe about this. No need to squint, to strain, to guess. Open your eyes, you know? The Colts have something special brewing, and if their 1-5 start rendered this season unsalvageable, so be it. This season was never the litmus test for the Colts (5-5), who remain two games behind the Houston Texans (7-3) in the AFC South.

What we wanted to see – what you wanted to see, Colts fans – was a reason to believe. You wanted to see Andrew Luck return to form after missing 2017 with shoulder surgery. You wanted to see improvement on the offensive line, on the defensive line, at running back. You wanted to see the defense develop a playmaker for the first time since Robert Mathis, circa 2013.

You got an eyeful Sunday, didn’t you?

Luck threw three touchdown passes, running his streak to seven games with at least three TD passes, tied for the third longest streak of all time. He’s behind only Tom Brady (10 in 2010) and Peyton Manning (eight in 2004). He’s tied with Dan Marino. Pretty good list, you might say.

While you’re at it, you might also say this: Luck is so good, so fast, it’s almost shocking. Reich was just grinning from the post-game podium, when he was asked to discuss how far Luck has come since he arrived in February. Reich took us back to not so many months ago, when Luck wasn’t even throwing a football.

“He was throwing … I don’t know what they were,” Reich said. “Weighted balls. Didn’t have a point on them.”

Point of all this: It’s shocking, as I was saying, that Luck may just be better than ever. And he really may be, given not just his return to health but his placement in Reich’s quick-strike, throw-it-anywhere offense that maximizes Luck’s skill while minimizing his risk. And he’s operating behind an offensive line that was historically bad – no quarterback in the NFL was hit or sacked more times than Luck from 2012-16 – and now, somehow, is historically good. On Sunday the Colts’ offensive line became just the fifth group in NFL history to post a fifth consecutive game without allowing a sack.

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Kept not just upright but untouched – the Titans never hit him – Luck was 23-for-29 for 297 yards and three touchdowns, giving him the second-best passer rating (143.8) of his 81-game career. His biggest weapon was his longest-tenured and most familiar, fellow 2012 draftee T.Y. Hilton, who abused 2017 first-round pick Adoree’ Jackson for nine catches, 155 yards and two touchdowns.

Luck, Hilton and Co. did this to a Tennessee defense that was ranked sixth in the NFL against the pass (228.2 yards allowed per game) and first in scoring defense (16.8 ppg). On a more micro-level, the more boutique statistic of red-zone defense, the Titans came into the game first in the NFL, allowing touchdowns on just 34.8 percent of the possessions that pierced their 20.

The Colts went 4-for-5 inside the red zone. That’s 80 percent.

This is borderline insane, what the Colts offense is doing – seriously, Andrew Luck is better than ever, and the Colts’ offensive line is a team strength? – and it coincides nicely with the revival of a defense that now can sack the quarterback (five sacks Sunday) thanks to an infusion of young speed.

Defensive end Kemoko Turay recorded his fourth sack of the season, tied for third among NFL rookies, one behind his teammate and the Colts’ best defensive player since Mathis: Darius Leonard. Leonard picked up his fifth sack Sunday in a game that was shockingly good, and yet sort of typical: seven tackles, one sack, one interception.

Leonard also forced his fourth fumble of the season, moving him into a tie for first in the NFL with the following players: Houston’s J.J. Watt, Denver’s Von Miller, Chicago’s Khalil Mack and Kansas City’s Dee Ford. That’s a group that has combined for three NFL Defensive Player of the Year awards, nine All-Pro selections and 13 Pro Bowl appearances, the kind of awards that are in Leonard’s future.

If nobody has said it yet, let’s do it here: The Colts have an absolute star at general manager in Chris Ballard. Has he been perfect? Well no, of course not. He drafted two duds in 2017 in offensive tackle Zach Banner and defensive end Tarell Basham. Those are the only two known misses of his 19 selections in 2017 and ‘18. Of the other 17, the jury is out on two who have yet to play, receivers drafted in 2018 (Deon Cain is injured, receiver Daurice Fountain on the practice squad.)

But everyone else Ballard has drafted has played and acquitted himself well, most notably Leonard, Turay and offensive guard Quenton Nelson, but also the trio of running backs he’s selected (Marlon Mack in 2017, Nyheim Hines and Jordan Wilkins in ‘18), starting linebacker Anthony Walker (‘17), injured safety Malik Hooker (’17) and defensive tackle Tyquan Lewis (’18), who made his NFL debut last week and was excellent Sunday, picking up his first career tackle-for-loss.

Oh, and Braden Smith, the Auburn guard Ballard selected for some reason in the second round this year, one round after taking another guard (Nelson) sixth overall – a pair of picks that didn’t make a lot of sense, in some circles – has filled the Colts’ forever hole at right tackle.

Most of Ballard’s free agents have paid off as well, especially Eric Ebron (free agent class of 2018), who leads NFL tight ends with nine touchdowns, and defensive linemen Margus Hunt (’17), Jabaal Sheard (’17) and Denico Autry (’18). Midseason acquisition Dontrelle Inman has solidified the Colts’ receiving corps, catching four more passes Sunday, including a touchdown.

This is not a fluke, is the point. This is a young, deep and talented roster, one that has won four consecutive games and put together its best game of the season on Sunday –with Peyton, Reggie and the best of the Colts’ yesterday on hand to watch a franchise sprinting full-speed into tomorrow.

Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter: @GreggDoyelStar or at facebook.com/gregg.doyel.