Colts coach Frank Reich warned team not to underestimate Jags ahead of season-ending loss
Jacksonville didn’t have many positives in 2021, but it ended the season with not only arguably the biggest upset of the entire year in the NFL, but also one of the biggest in the entire history of the franchise. Facing an Indianapolis Colts team that just needed a win over the league-worst Jags to clinch a spot in the playoffs, the Colts were stunned in a 26-11 beatdown as quarterback Trevor Lawrence played his most impressive game as a rookie.
The result may have shocked the league, but it didn’t shock Indianapolis coach Frank Reich. On this week’s episode of HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” Reich warned his team not to overlook the Jags, who haven’t lost to the Colts at home since 2014.
“We’ve taken three really good teams down to Jacksonville and lost even when their records are poor,” Reich told his players, according to Pro Football Talk. “I promise you this: They’re sitting in their meeting right now, thinking they’re gonna beat us. Thinking they can beat us and ruin our season. And you know what? They’re right. We’ve got to acknowledge that we know that’s right. They can beat us. If we don’t prepare, if we don’t give our best right now, if we don’t prepare our best this week, we can get beat. We’re in a do-or-die situation. Win-and-get-in situation. The stakes are the highest the stakes get in this business.”
Obviously, it was a lesson his team didn’t really take to heart. The Jaguars ended the season on a high note by ruining their rivals’ postseason chances, and the Colts now have a long offseason to ponder why they couldn’t take down one of the most hopeless teams in the league with everything in the world to play for.
For the Jags, it offers the team at least something to build off of heading into a crucial 2022 season, and they’ll hope it boosts the confidence of Lawrence after a rookie year that didn’t go to plan.
