Doyel: If this was the 2018 Colts, the 2018 Colts will be bad

Gregg Doyel | IndyStar

Show Caption Hide Caption Doyel - 'Colts stink' Insiders Zak Keefer and columnist Gregg Doyel discuss the Indianapolis Colts win over the 49ers.

INDIANAPOLIS – This is the preseason game that matters, the only one that matters. The third NFL exhibition game, that’s the dress rehearsal for the regular season, which means we saw a glimpse of the 2018 Indianapolis Colts on Saturday.

Problem is, the FOX 59 feed went out during the first half.

No, wait. That’s not a problem. That’s a relief.

Because if you’re a Colts fans, this was discouraging. This was bad. If these are the 2018 Colts, then the 2018 Colts are bad. They can’t protect quarterback Andrew Luck. Can’t run the ball. Can’t stop the run. Drop too many passes.

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The Colts won this preseason game, beating the San Francisco 49ers 23-17 at Lucas Oil Stadium, but the score doesn’t matter. Not in any preseason game, ever. Put it this way: The Cleveland Browns went 4-0 in the 2017 preseason and 0-16 in the 2017 regular season. Same year, the New England Patriots went 1-3 in the preseason … and reached the Super Bowl.

So the final score Saturday, forget it. What happened in the first half, when the Colts starters and the 49ers starters shared the field? That’s the closest thing we’ve seen this preseason, the closest thing we’ll see all preseason, to the Colts in 2018. If you weren’t at the game – the stadium was two-thirds full at kickoff, at most – and you had the good sense not to watch it on TV, or the good fortune to be watching when FOX 59 suffered technical difficulties, here’s what you missed:

Colts beat 49ers 23-17 The Indianapolis Colts beat the San Francisco 49ers 23-17 in preseason play.

The 2017 Colts.

And the 2016 Colts. And 2015 Colts. Their best player is their quarterback. Next on the list are the kicker and punter. That’s great for the kicker and punter. But how has that worked out for the Colts since 2015?

Amazing, really, how this franchise looks the same year after year. The names change, and not just the players’ names. Since early 2017, the Colts have a new general manager, new head coach, new assistants. They have a mostly new roster, give or take a name here and there, but it’s still the same Colts:

Awful at the point of attack. Andrew Luck running for his life, followed by Jacoby Brissett running for his life. Colts running backs running nowhere. Opposing running backs running wild, even when that running back is named, let’s see, Alfred … Morris? Why is he still in the league, and why is he running into the Colts secondary before being touched by anyone in a blue uniform?

And why is it happening over and over on Saturday?

The telling moment Saturday was the second play from scrimmage. Colts ball, second-and-6 at their 29. Running back Jordan Wilkins gets a handoff. He’s supposed to run behind the right side of the offensive line, but the right side of the Colts’ line is gone. And now Wilkins is gone, a 3-yard loss.

That was the telling moment Saturday, because … no, wait. What happened next was the telling moment. Third-and-9 from the 26. Pass play. Andrew Luck drops into the pocket, and the pocket is gone. Not sure it was ever there. Picture a pair of pants with the pocket mistakenly sewn shut. Irregular, you call clothes like that.

So anyway, Luck’s back there and 49ers defensive end Solomon Thomas is running free after blowing through Colts right tackle Austin Howard, and Thomas gets to Luck so fast he’s not ready to tackle him. No, I’m serious. He’s on Luck so quickly, Thomas’ arms are still down and the best he can do is chest-bump Luck, who spins into the 49ers’ other defensive end, Cassius Marsh. Luck pinballs off Marsh and into the arms of Jeremiah Attaochu, who finishes him off for a 10-yard sack. That’s three 49ers defensive linemen getting a shot on Luck on the same play.

Irredeemable, you call an offensive line like that.

The right tackle for those two disastrous plays, Austin Howard, didn’t play again. Benched after three snaps, never to return, perhaps never again. Luckily, he was a bargain-basement offseason acquisition for the Colts, so his failure won’t matter too much.

Luck - 'I feel way more confident' The Indianapolis Colt beat the San Francisco 49ers 23-17 in preseason play.

Kidding! In an offseason the Colts entered with roughly $70 million in cap space, among the most cap space in the NFL, Austin Howard was their fourth most expensive pickup. His $4.25 million cap number puts him 10th on the whole roster and third on the line, behind only left tackle Anthony Castonzo ($10.8 million) and rookie guard Quenton Nelson ($4.34 million), and apparently Howard can’t play at all. Leave it to Colts General Manager Ryan Grigson to get it wrong again … oh, right. New GM: Chris Ballard. Same issue: No offensive line.

Castonzo didn’t play Saturday, missing his third consecutive game, which means the Colts can expect to be better whenever he gets back. But how much better? He’s the left tackle, remember. Howard is the right tackle. Or was. Castonzo will return sooner than later, and running back Marlon Mack will return eventually, but if you're saying Castonzo and Mack can be the saviors of this offense, then I'm saying: Some folks call that "willing suspension of disbelief."

Colts coach Frank Reich was moderately upbeat afterward Saturday, saying the offense found some “rhythm” and the defense, this Tampa 2 defense that drove Colts fans nuts for years under Tony Dungy, “is notorious for that – a little bend but don’t break.” And that’s great, it really is, when you have an offense capable of putting up Star Wars numbers.

This Colts offense? Pea-shooter numbers. Luck and Co., the first-team offense, have had 11 drives this preseason. They scored one touchdown and two field goals. Seven punts. One interception.

One touchdown in 11 drives.

Don’t give me: Oh, you’re so negative. “Honest” is the word you’re looking for: Honest.

Like this: In the first half, the only part of this game that means anything – ones vs. ones – the Colts ran 15 times for 32 yards. And if you can believe this, that production is wildly inflated. Luck ran four times for 27 yards. Everyone else? The Colts’ running backs, I mean? Eleven carries, five yards.

But, listen: Absolutely, there’s a bright side: Andrew Luck. He was so good Saturday, the best he’s looked in three preseason games by a large margin: 8-for-10 for 90 yards and a touchdown, a 137.5 passer rating. And those two incompletions were drops, or something close to it. T.Y. Hilton and Ryan Grant had their hands on one incompletion each, but they were closely defended and couldn’t bring those passes under control. Tough catches, yes. Drops? Yeah, probably. Point is not to attack Hilton and Grant, although holy cow Ryan Grant. Catch something.

Point is, that’s how good Luck was on Saturday. He’s ready for the regular season, no doubt about it. Asked to put a letter grade on his preseason camp after missing the entire 2017 season following shoulder surgery, he declined but offered another grading scale:

“Pass-fail?” he offered. “Pass!”

Indeed. Luck passed every test this preseason, so much so that by Saturday the Colts are looking like the same Colts we’ve seen for years, regardless of the names of the coach or GM: It’s Andrew Luck and a whole bunch of whatever. That’s how it was Saturday, and Saturday was the third preseason game, the one where NFL teams looks like they’ll look in the regular season.

That’s what everyone says, anyway.

Hope everyone’s wrong.

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