Indianapolis Colts quarterback Daniel Jones has completely revived his career as a starter in the NFL after being released by the New York Giants midway through the 2024 season. But the Colts' recent collapse against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday is beginning to spark doubt in insiders' heads as to how elite Jones can really be. The Colts generated a 20-9 lead on Kansas City entering the fourth quarter in full control of the contest, but a scoreless final 15 minutes by Indy allowed Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs to tie up the game, scoring 11 unanswered points. The Chiefs would go on to win the game 23-20 in overtime, cementing a major collapse by Jones and the Colts.
The former Blue Devil has had a great year, but has struggled in games where the Colts' run game has struggled to get going. MVP candidate Jonathan Taylor tallied just 58 rushing yards on 16 carries against Kansas City, his second-lowest total of the season. As a result, the Colts had a tough time getting their offense going late, and it cost them what would've been a huge victory to improve to 9-2 on the campaign.
Dan Orlovsky expresses 'doubt' in Daniel Jones following major collapse against Chiefs
Jones became a topic of discussion on ESPN's Get Up on Monday morning, and NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky expressed his concern with Jones as a starter on a team that's trying to win a Super Bowl, or at least make a deep playoff run.
"It's just going to put a lot of doubt in people's heads of 'I love the Colts. I want to trust the Colts.' It feels like, Daniel [Jones] needs the run to play well, and there's other quarterbacks that don't," Orlovsky said.
All three of Indianapolis' losses this season have come when Taylor rushes for under 100 yards, something the elite back has only done in six games. Against the Chiefs, Jones threw for 181 yards and two touchdowns on 19-of-31 (61.3%) passing. Jones has been great at times this season, but the consistency that comes when a rushing attack for the Colts lacks, where Indy can't find any rhythm, is beginning to tell.