The Colts had a chance to take a big step toward the playoffs on Sunday, but their trip to Atlanta did not go well.
Minshew guided the team on a 75-yard touchdown drive to open the game, but the Falcons scored the next 20 points and then added nine more after the Colts briefly tried to make a game of it in the third quarter. The loss came a week after the Colts dominated the Steelers and the Falcons fell to a one-win Panthers squad, which led Minshew to say after the game that he thinks the Colts might not have approached the game with the requisite urgency.
“You start counting wins and you start doing schedule math and you look around, it’s like, ‘Well they lost to Carolina; we beat the Steelers,'” Minshew said, via Stephen Holder of ESPN.com. “Well you know what? You gotta go earn it right now. And if you take this lightly, you might not end up with another [chance].”
Linebacker Zaire Franklin said he thinks Minshew “said it perfectly” and called it “a lesson” about not taking any games for granted in the NFL. The good news for the Jags is that they didn’t lose any ground in the division. The Texans and Jaguars also lost on Sunday, so all three AFC South teams are 8-7 heading into the final two weeks of the season.