The Indianapolis Colts snagged a 30-13 win over the Washington Commanders today in London, but honestly, the score doesn’t even tell half the story. The Commanders were scrambling, losing not one, but *two* quarterbacks to injury and rolling out their third-string rookie for most of the game. Talk about a brutal Sunday across the pond.
QB Chaos in the UK
You can’t make this stuff up, seriously. The Commanders went into this game already without their first-string guy, Jayden Daniels, who’s nursing an elbow injury. So, backup Marcus Mariota gets the start. Cool, right? Nope. Mariota barely made it out of the first quarter before he was out with a knee injury. Suddenly, it’s rookie third-stringer Athan Kaliakmanis running the show.
Kaliakmanis, bless his heart, tried to make something happen. The kid flashed some real arm strength, ripping off completions for 48 and 47 yards, and even had an 87-yard touchdown called back by a penalty. But despite those big plays, he just couldn’t do enough to wrestle control from the Colts. And if that wasn’t enough, wide receiver Jaylin Lane got carted off the field after suffering an ankle injury on a kickoff return and was quickly ruled out for the rest of the game. Just a nightmare day for their medical staff.
Colts Run Wild, But Questions Linger for Jones
While the Commanders were dealing with a M*A*S*H unit at quarterback, the Colts just kept it simple and effective. Their running game absolutely took over, leaving the Commanders’ defense chasing ghosts. Jonathan Taylor was a beast, punching in two touchdowns, and Daniel Jones even got in on the ground action with a rushing score of his own. The Colts controlled the game throughout.
Jones might have punched one in on the ground, but his arm wasn’t exactly lighting up the scoreboard. He went a not-so-impressive 19-for-34 for just 143 yards, and yeah, questions are definitely still floating around about his passing ability. The Colts improved to 2-2 with the win, a decent spot early in the season, but they’re gonna need Jones to start connecting more consistently through the air if they want to keep building momentum. For the Commanders? Man, they just gotta hope they have a healthy quarterback by next week. What a mess.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Pro Football Talk.
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