Indianapolis quarterback Matt Ryan has passed for almost 60,000 yards in his NFL career.
Associated Press
The Indianapolis Colts’ fourth starting quarterback in as many seasons hit town with an everyman look and vibe.
Matt Ryan loading his cart with bags of mulch in your local store is no more of a visual reach than him breaking a huddle for a franchise starving for scraps of postseason relevance.
At 37, Ryan is being paid a great deal of money to do what one-year rentals Philip Rivers and human piñata Carson Wentz couldn’t — make Indianapolis a legitimate Super Bowl contender again.
Colts owner Jim Irsay, when not purchasing Prince’s shoelaces, the box that held Yoko Ono’s fondue recipe cards and the cereal bowls that guided John Fogerty’s late-1960s haircuts, preaches all things horseshoe.
Representing the horseshoe. Loving the horseshoe. The horseshoe way of doing things.
I’m guessing Irsay won’t be using the 2021 season as his preferred reference point.
Indianapolis lost its first three games, impressively scrambled back to playoff contention by surging to a 9-6 record and had only the underachieving Las Vegas Raiders and lowly Jacksonville Jaguars remaining on the regular-season schedule.
The Colts lost at home to the Raiders and mailed in perhaps the most embarrassing and inexcusable effort in franchise history (Indianapolis or Baltimore) a week later.
Season over.
And, most of us figured, so might be the tenures of Colts coach Frank Reich and general manager Chris Ballard.
But Irsay, sensing something maybe the rest of us can’t, kept the franchise hierarchy as is — the obvious behind-closed-doors message being, “We’d better win, and win a lot, in 2022.”
No reason the Colts shouldn’t.
Opening the season with consecutive road games against historical cupcakes Houston and Jacksonville seems to be a clear path to 2-0 (yes, Indianapolis absolutely gagged against lesser foes down the stretch last year, but I’m guessing Irsay spent much of the offseason reminding coaches and players of that very thing).
That would set the stage for the Week 3 home opener against Kansas City and AFC South rival Tennessee visiting Lucas Oil Stadium a week later.
Whether Indy speeds or sputters out of the gate doesn’t fall solely on Ryan, but much of it does.
His leadership, cool under fire and decision making have the potential to wring the maximum out of an offense equipped with one of the premier lines in the NFL and its top running back in Jonathan Taylor.
This group of receivers, on paper, looks frustratingly mediocre for yet another season. However, maybe it surprises now that Ryan is at the controls.
Great NFL quarterbacks have a way of turning under-the-radar types into household names. Tom Brady did it for years in New England; Aaron Rodgers continues to do so in Green Bay.
Matty Ice might be a rung below those two, but he’s still Matty Nice. Four Pro Bowl invites, 367 career touchdowns and nearly 60,000 passing yards say so.
Looking at the schedule, I’ll predict an 11-6 record for this year’s Colts squad. It will qualify for the playoffs and finish as one of the last four AFC teams standing.
Irsay likely expects more, as he should. With a break or two, Indianapolis has the potential to deliver.
2022 COLTS SCHEDULE
Date;Opponent;Time
Sept. 11;at Texans;1 p.m.
Sept. 18;at Jaguars;1 p.m.
Sept. 25;Chiefs;1 p.m.
Oct. 2;Titans;1 p.m.
Oct. 6;at Broncos;8:15 p.m.
Oct. 16;Jaguars;1 p.m.
Oct. 23;at Titans;1 p.m.
Oct. 30;Commanders;4:25 p.m.
Nov. 6;at Patriots;1 p.m.
Nov. 13;at Raiders;4:05 p.m.
Nov. 20;Eagles;1 p.m.
Nov. 28;Steelers;8:15 p.m.
Dec. 4;at Cowboys;8:20 p.m.
Dec. 18;at Vikings;TBA
Dec. 26;Chargers;8:15 p.m.
Jan. 1;at Giants;1 p.m.
Jan. 8; Texans;TBA
Mike Beas is a sportswriter for the Daily Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].
