Summary: The Indianapolis Colts came into their Week 1 battle against the Cincinnati Bengals on a mission. Andrew Luck was back under center, the defense is young and was excited to show off their speed and on top of all that, a new play-caller in head coach Frank Reich as well. 34-23 looks bad, but this game was so much closer than the final score suggests. The Colts built themselves a halftime lead, and put up some cushion on their second drive of the second half to lead 23-10 halfway through the third quarter. But, it was the Bengals who put up 24 straight points to steal a game in Indy where they've never played well. We saw some very good things out of the offense; a patchwork offensive line did pretty well for themselves, they were excellent on third downs and we saw how quickly Andrew Luck could strike once he gets into a rhythm. Defensively, all Colts fans should be excited about what they saw out of the group despite the rushing yards, and a few hiccups throughout their performance. This group created pressure, turned the ball over and made the Bengals earn every play. The bend-but-don't-break approach is going to yield some big games in terms of yards, but this defense is going to be fun this year and look like a unit that is going to turn some games in the Colts' favor. We talk about all of this and analyze some individual performances from the Colts Week 1 loss. This is about as close to a moral victory as it gets. Now that Reich has popped his cherry, the honeymoon is over. The Colts now have some expectations to live up to.
