Brissett breaks through:
Overlooked QB has helped Colts land in first with big numbers.
INDIANAPOLIS – The Colts can’t believe they’re still fielding these types of questions. They can’t believe they keep having to say, “I told you so.”
They just laugh now when asked if they’re surprised by what they see Jacoby Brissett do on Sundays.
“I’ve been tellin’ y’all the whole time,” T.Y. Hilton said, “he can play football, man.”
The questions don’t bother Zach Pascal so much. He knows how most of the football-watching world sees his quarterback. A glorified backup. A game manager. A product of head coach Frank Reich’s genius. They don’t believe.
The slights don’t bother him. In fact, Pascal adds defiantly, he’s glad people aren’t taking notice.
“We’re just going to let them sleep,” Pascal said with a grin.
If anyone is still sleeping on Brissett after a Week 7 performance, it’s because they ignored the alarm blaring in their ears and hit the snooze button.
Brissett’s performance, in a 30-23 victory over the Texans, was one for the record books. In just his sixth game as the new face of the Colts’ franchise following the retirement of Andrew Luck, he threw for 326 yards and four touchdowns and paired them with zero interceptions.
Such a feat has only been achieved by three other men while wearing the horseshoe on their helmets: Luck (five times), Peyton Manning (four times) and Johnny Unitas (three times).
But forget history. Brissett’s gaudy totals bring his season numbers to 14 touchdowns and three interceptions along with a passer rating (101.0) that ranked among the top 10 in the NFL heading into the Jets-Patriots Monday night game. And most importantly, all of those yards and touchdowns led to a victory, the fourth of the Colts’ season and one that puts them squarely in control of the AFC South.
For Brissett, it was at least the second time this season (Atlanta) when he wasn’t the supporting actor in a Colts win. He was the leading man. Like Brissett’s teammates, Reich wasn’t surprised at the outcome nor how the Colts got there. He suspected the day before the path to a Colts victory would be through Brissett.
“We talked about that last night as an offense that we needed to make plays in the pass game to win this game, and we did that,” Reich said. “And Jacoby (Brissett) led the way.”
What’s striking about this victory is that it’s one that should look awfully familiar to Colts fans. Between the Manning and Luck eras, games when the quarterback put up big numbers in a victory were commonplace.
In recent years, some Colts fans grew to accept that as the only way to win. They became accustomed to watching a quarterback have to carry an incomplete team on his shoulders each and every Sunday. Either the defense was in shambles or the offensive line was porous or … something. There almost always was something Luck had to overcome en route to triumph.
But that’s not the way it works in Indianapolis. Not anymore. General manager Chris Ballard and company have built a complete football team. The defense has not only won games this season but has turned in some outstanding performances against juggernaut offenses with MVP-caliber quarterbacks in Kansas City and Houston.
And offensively, Ballard and Reich have built the Colts to be able to adapt to what they’re seeing.
A “game-plan” offense Texans coach Bill O’Brien called them earlier last week – meaning the quarterback isn’t supposed to carry the Colts every game. If Marlon Mack and the road graders in front of him are grinding out yards, Brissett’s job is largely making sure the running backs have the football tucked neatly in their stomachs.
But on games like the one Oct. 20, when the Texans play man to man defense with just one safety over the top, they’re effectively daring Brissett to beat them. And he did.
“It says he’s legit,” Reich said. “It says he’s the man. We’ve believed that from Day 1 and we’ve never wavered on our conviction on our belief in Jacoby. But we all know it, he knew it too – he’s still got to prove it. Still has to come in here and put the offense on your back, literally, for this game and come to make the plays that he made to win this game and he did that today. He did it as well as you could do it.”
Six games into the campaign, no one is saying Brissett, in his current form, is an MVP or is destined for five straight Pro
Bowls. But it needs to be acknowledged that he’s not a finished product, either. This was only his 29th game, three games shy of two full seasons in the NFL. He threw the 600th pass of his career earlier this season. Most quarterbacks these days throw 600 passes in their rookie seasons.
In the past seven weeks, Brissett has shown steady improvement over the quarterback he was in New England and with the Colts in 2017. He isn’t taking many sacks – just seven all season; he’s completing 65% of his passes, and he’s been impeccable in the red zone.
One of the last remaining knocks on Brissett entering the game was that he couldn’t attack defenses downfield. You can cross that one of the list now, too.
Brissett entered the day averaging 6.4 yards per completion. Against the Texans, that number was 8.4. Perhaps even more impressive is that he and the Colts’ passing game generated six “explosive” plays (20-plus yards) after entering the day with only nine for the season. Add in a couple of 19-yarders, and Brissett was practically living downfield.
After games like this, Brissett’s teammates find it strange to have to keep repeating what they’ve been saying for months: Jacoby Brissett is more than a backup. Jacoby Brissett can play.
Put it like this, defensive end Justin Houston said. During his nine-year NFL career, he has played with some game managers. He’s played against quite a few of them, too. He knows what they look like.
That’s not what’s he sees when he looks under center in Indianapolis.
“He’s definitely not a game manager,” Houston said. “He’s a game changer. “That’s big for us to have one of those guys on our team. And he’s still growing. Sky’s the limit.”