INDIANAPOLIS — Michael Badgley missed his second kick of the season, yanking a PAT wide left early in the first quarter.
Tight end Mo Alie-Cox accounted for one of Daniel Jones’ 11 incompletions with a drop, and running back Jonathan Taylor was held to a minus-3 yards on three attempts in the second quarter.
That just about takes care of what went wrong with Daniel Jones and the NFL’s most-efficient, highest-scoring offense Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium.
Once again, the Indianapolis Colts were hummin’ in a highlight-filled, 38-24 win that left quarterback Justin Herbert and the Chargers languishing in their wake and should have reinforced their status as a serious player not only in the AFC, but the NFL.
Stowed in their baggage for the long flight home were an NFL-best 6-1 record and a two-game lead over Jacksonville in the AFC South.
“Obviously that’s a good thing, and we’re excited about that, for sure,’’ Jones said. “We’re proud of how we’ve played to this point, but as I keep saying, everybody knows we’ve got a lot in front of us and in order to accomplish what we want to accomplish and be the team that we believe we’re capable of being, we’ve got to continue to improve and work and sharpen up the things that haven’t been as sharp.’’
Offensive video review, though, will reveal much more positive than negative.
“Obviously, we did a lot of good things, moving the ball up and down the field,’’ Colts coach Shane Steichen said postgame. “I thought Daniel Jones was operating at an ultimate level.’’
That level: 23-of-34 for 288 yards with touchdown passes to wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. and rookie tight end Tyler Warren and a 113.4 rating. It was his sixth rating of at least 100 in seven games, which matches the most he had in a season with the New York Giants (2022).
The Jones-led offense generated touchdowns on its first three possessions and scored on six of its first seven. And after the defense came up with a critical fourth-down stop for a second straight week, Jones extinguished any thoughts of a Chargers’ comeback by delivering a 13-yard completion to Alec Pierce on third-and-10 just ahead of the 2-minute warning.
Then, every quarterback’s favorite: three kneel-downs.
Jones’ explanation on his final pass spoke to the Colts’ game-long approach.
“Staying aggressive in those situations,’’ he said. “If we have an opportunity to make a play, just execute that play.’’
It all started with Jones — that’s been the case since Steichen named him, not Anthony Richardson Sr., the starter — but this was another example of the completeness of the Colts’ offense.
Taylor had another of his quietly-impactful games: 94 yards and three TDs (23, 8 and 19 yards) on 16 rushes, 38 yards on three receptions.
He’s the first player in franchise history with three games with at least three rushing TDs in a season, and just the fourth in league history with three separate three-rushing TD games within the first seven games of a season. The others: Jim Brown in 1958, Priest Holmes in 2004 and Derrick Henry in 2021.
“I think he’s the best back in the league right now,’’ Steichen said. “There’s no doubt, and it starts with our guys up front. He’s running hard. He’s running physical. He has great vision.
“Yeah, he’s ballin’ right now.’’
Jones delivered completions to eight different receivers. Pittman had seven catches for 58 yards and his fifth TD, one short of tying his career high. Pierce had five receptions for a team-high 98 yards while Warren had four catches for 69 yards and notched a TD in a fourth consecutive game.
As much as possible, Jones low-keyed what the offense has done through seven games. The 232 points are the most in the first seven games in the Indy era, and they’ve not turned the ball over in five of those games.
“Honestly, when we’re playing, it doesn’t feel like we do anything out of the ordinary or crazy,’’ he said. “It’s just simple execution play-after-play. Some plays are good, some plays aren’t as good, but we reset our focus and play and try to make that work.
“That consistent mindset from everybody and being able to respond from a bad play or follow a good play with another good play is key to that.’’
Execution. Simple as that.
The Colts scored touchdowns on four-of-five red-zone trips with the outlier being Badgley’s 36-yard field goal as time expired at the end of the second quarter. That snapped their streak of consecutive TDs in the red zone at 12.
They converted 5-of-11 third-down situations and, in a testament to Steichen’s trust in his personnel and respect for Herbert, Indy was 3-for-3 on fourth-down conversions.
All three of the latter came on a 17-play, 70-yard drive that consumed 7 minutes, 41 seconds, spanned the first and second quarters and ended with Jones’ 4-yard TD to Pittman, who flowed from the left side of the formation and was wide open to the right. That pushed the Colts in front, 13-3.
“The coach trusting you to convert and keep a drive alive . . . means a lot to us,’’ Jones said.
Steichen’s trust is based on what he sees every day of the week.
“It’s the stuff you don’t see behind the scenes,’’ he said. “The work that’s put in every day. Daniel’s as good as it gets when it comes to the preparation. You know he’s going to be prepared.
“There’s no doubt he’s going to go out and play well every time we step on the field. I think our guys know that. He gets us going and the offensive line sets the tone.’’
Another crisp game from the offensive line allowed the Colts to average 7.3 yards per play and 6.2 per rush, excluding Jones’ three kneel-downs. Jones was sacked just once.
About that defense
The game offered a stark contrast between the offense pouring it on and the defense hanging on.
The Colts still are dealing with injuries at cornerback — Charvarius Ward was placed on the injured reserve list Saturday with his second concussion of the season, joining Jaylon Jones, Mike Hilton and rookie Justin Walley 7 and Herbert made them pay.
He attempted 55 passes for a career-high 420 yards and three touchdowns. Rookie tight end Oronde Gadsden finished with seven catches for 164 yards and one TD and wide receier Keenan Allen added 119 yards and one TD on 11 receptions.
“We know how good (Herbert) is, and he can make all the plays,’’ said Steichen. “He made a ton of plays today.’’
The Colts allowed 445 total yards and 25 first downs but did just enough to keep the Chargers at bay.
They sacked Herbert three times, two from tackle DeForest Buckner, and were credited with 21 hurries and nine knockdowns. Safety Nick Cross stopped one Chargers’ red-zone possession with an interception while tackle Grover Stewart came up with his first interception in nine seasons and 131 games.
The 6-foot-4, 314-pounder showed off his athleticism by batting a Herbert pass into the air, locating it and securing it.
The Chargers trailed, 23-3, at the half, but pulled to within 38-24 with three touchdown-drives to open the second half and were driving for more in the fourth quarter.
That’s when the defense stiffened.
After the Chargers reached a first-and-10 at the Indy 28-yard line, Buckner broke through Herbert’s protection for his second sack of the day and linebacker Zaire Franklin deflected a third-and-22 pass to receiver Ladd McConkey.
Herbert’s final pass failed to pick up the necessary yardage to extend the drive.
Injury update
Defensive end Samson Ebukam was ruled out in the second half with a knee injury. Defensive lineman Tyquan Lewis also was ruled out with a groin injury.
You can follow Mike Chappell on Twitter at @mchappell51.