Jaguars at Colts, 1 p.m. Sunday, CBS

INDIANAPOLIS — A year ago, after they crumbled, T.Y. Hilton ranted and Chris Ballard seethed.

It was a low point amidst a season of them, historic in its ineptitude, and in the bigger picture, a final, brutal nail in the coffin for the head coach who’d get inevitably canned 10 weeks later. The startling statistic wasn’t the final score – Jaguars 27, Colts 0 – or the fact that it marked Indy’s first shutout loss in 24 seasons.

It was the number 10.

That’s how many sacks the Colts’ besieged offensive line allowed on quarterback Jacoby Brissett that day, the most in their 35-year history in this city. What’s worse: that doesn’t include 10 more hits Brissett suffered through. A few weeks later, signs decorated nearly every hallway inside Jacksonville International Airport: “Welcome to #SACKSONVILLE” they read, across one of several images of Brissett getting smashed to the turf by a Jaguar.

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Fitting. Brutal, but fitting.

You remember the star receiver going off after the game: “We were winning our matchups,” Hilton boasted of the wideouts, before trashing another unit. “The o-line just has to play better.” And he didn’t stop there: “Far as receiving, nothing can change. We’ve got to take some pride up front and block for him. What if we put them back there and take those hits?”

While Hilton’s statements weren’t exactly wrong, inside the Colts’ West 56th Street headquarters, team executives were less than pleased. The season was bad enough. The last thing they needed was the Pro Bowl wideout ripping into his blockers.

Internally, first-year GM Chris Ballard saw it and – again: 10 sacks! – decided he needed to fix it. He grew furious, then he made it his missive to reshape this roster from the inside-out. He was tired of watching his team get bullied, tired of having to grab a free agent off the street on Tuesday and start them Sunday.

“I had some frustrating moments ... where I just thought physically we did not match up against teams, especially within our division,” he’d later admit. “I didn’t wanna go through that again. I just thought at the end of the day, we needed to get our foundation right.”

So Ballard went to work, and eight games into 2018, he’s beginning to reap the rewards (See: Quenton Nelson, Braden Smith). The Colts have three new starters on the offensive line, a coach who has reshaped their thinking and a depth they’ve never had. The numbers back it up: No sacks on Andrew Luck across 156 dropbacks, a stretch of more than three games, not to mention an unthinkable statistic when you weigh the relentless beating Luck suffered the first five years of his career. (Luck was sacked 156 times across his first 70 starts, and hit more than 500 times.)

Welcome, 2018. The Colts have allowed the second-fewest sacks in the NFL (10), and can claim the league’s lowest sack-per-pass rate (just 2.92 percent).

That’s right – through eight games this season, the Colts have allowed the same number of sacks as they did in one game against the Jags last fall.

That new line coach Dave DeGuglielmo dished some honesty a week ago was no surprise. What changed this time: He’s loving what he’s seeing.

“They’re blue-collar work guys,” he boasted. “These are the guys that dig holes. They work with jackhammers every day. There’s no glory for these guys. If it weren’t for them, nothing else happens.”

He’s right. What has long been this team’s most glaring, ruinous unit, has suddenly shifted into its most surprising. A most telling litmus test arrives Sunday, when #Sacksonville returns to town, both teams sitting below .500 and desperate to salvage their season with a second-half run.

The difference is the Jags aren’t lighting up the league like they were a year ago. Jacksonville, once a trendy pick for the Super Bowl, is 3-5 and has dropped four straight. The defense is ranked 23rd in the league in sacks (19 total), five spots behind ... the Colts. The Jags racked up 55 last year, good for second-best in the NFL. This season they’re on pace for 38.

Still, the playmakers are there. Calais Campbell. Malik Jackson. Telvin Smith. Myles Jack. The Colts have dropped four of five to their AFC South rivals, and keeping Luck clean on Sunday will be the first step in changing the tone of the series.

“This is definitely going to be the toughest test of the year,” coach Frank Reich said of his offensive line.

As for what’s changed in Indianapolis, aside from newcomers Nelson, Smith, Matt Slauson and Mark Glowinski; Ryan Kelly is back after an injury-plagued 2017 campaign and playing better than he ever has. DeGuglielmo went as far as calling him the best center in football. Period.

“I’ve coached Pro Bowl centers, I’ve been around Nick Mangold, (Mike) Pouncey, I’ve had some really good, athletic ones, strong ones, smart ones,” DeGuglielmo boasted. “He’s the most complete center I’ve ever coached. I have no doubt he is the best center in the National Football League. He’s the complete guy. Turn the tape on, find me one better.”

Told of that statement Monday, Kelly was Kelly. He downplayed it. Ignored it. No true offensive lineman welcomes that sort of praise, knowing he’s always a play or two from hearing the blame all over again.

“I think he’s biased, I think he’s biased toward centers since he played the position,” Kelly said. “(The compliment) doesn’t really mean (expletive) to me.”

The confidence, though – that’s what changed, unit-wide. DeGuglielmo said they hung their heads back in the spring, years of criticism taking its toll. No more. The line’s playing better than it has in seven years. “It’s just been a hell of a lot of fun,” Kelly said. “It starts with Gug. From the minute he walked in the room, it was, ‘It isn’t a lack of talent. It’s a lack of confidence.’

“There’s not a lot of hesitation with a lot of guys now, and maybe there was in the past,” he continued. “Some guys get a little bogged down, maybe it’s too much of an offense, too much install. (Now) we’re playing fast, and that’s how you win games in the NFL.”

As for Gug’s first lesson, Kelly laughed. “Don’t listen to the media and the (expletive) they write,” he said.

Most of the offensive linemen, true to form, wouldn’t bite on the recent spate of praise. You’re only as good as what you put on tape last week, they like to say, and that can change in three hours on Sunday against a unit that’s tormented them for years.

“If you’re half-(way),” Kelly summed it up, “you’re going to get whooped.”

They know that better than most. And they know they haven’t been whooped in a while.

Pass their toughest test come Sunday – against the same stacked unit that clobbered them a year ago for a historic sack number – and Kelly and Co. might prove they’re for real moving forward.

Call Star reporter Zak Keefer at (317) 444-6134 and follow him on Twitter: @zkeefer.