AP

The Colts gave Andrew Luck all the money, but they know they have to give him some help, too.

In addition to some dubious clock management, there was the small matter that their quarterback put 35 points on the board and it wasn’t enough.

And the Colts defenders know that’s an issue, after yesterday’s 39-35 loss to the Lions, which featured plenty of missed tackles and missed opportunities. They allowed 448 yards and had one sack against the Lions.

“If you expect to win in this league, you can’t give up that many points,” Colts linebacker D’Qwell Jackson said, via Mike Wells of ESPN.com. “Any other team, that would have been a blowout. Defensively we played like s— and we have to play better.”

The Colts are beat up at the moment, with injuries knocking out a number of key players, and two more (rookie safety T.J. Green and cornerback Patrick Robinson) were hurt during the game. It clearly impacted yesterday’s game, but they also know waiting for everyone to get well isn’t an option.

“Whoever is out there, we expect you play to winning football,” Jackson said. “No matter who is out there. The season isn’t going to stop for us.”

And if they don’t stop somebody soon, all the money and resources the Colts have poured into their offense will have been squandered.