We’ve hit December, and it’s officially the time when football games start to matter. Teams are fighting for either their playoff chances or playoff seeding. We’re starting to separate the contenders from the pretenders. This week, the Seattle Seahawks return home to face the Indianapolis Colts, who are being led into town by… Philip Rivers? Yup, you read that correctly.
After starting the season 7–1, led by the resurgence of Daniel Jones and Jonathan Taylor’s monster season, the Colts now head into Seattle with an 8–5 record and are fighting for their playoff lives. This season has often been referred to as a throwback NFL season. The Patriots are good again, the Broncos are leading the AFC West, the Packers are leading the NFC North, and now Philip Rivers is back.
After Daniel Jones went down last week against the Jaguars, the Colts brought a former quarterback out of retirement, and it wasn’t Andrew Luck, unfortunately 44 year-old Philip Rivers, who’s older than 30% of NFL head coaches, whose oldest son is older than backup quarterback Riley Leonard and who hasn’t played since the 2020 season may have to come into a hostile environment in Seattle and try to save the Colts’ season. I’m sorry, Colts fans. You were such a great story to watch this year, and after making the huge trade for Sauce Gardner at the deadline, it’s unfortunate that it’s come down to Grandpa Rivers to save your season. I’m not kidding, he’s actually a grandpa.
It’s not confirmed yet that Rivers will be starting for the Colts on Sunday, as head coach Shane Steichen has yet to name his starter, but for the storylines, I really hope it’s Rivers.
The Seahawks, who are coming off a huge win in Atlanta anchored by a dominant defensive performance, are still fighting for a division title, as they are tied with the Los Angeles Rams at 10–3. Seattle faces the Rams next week on Thursday night, but they can’t look ahead just yet. They still have to clean up a few things heading into Sunday. Don’t let the 37–9 final score in Atlanta fool you, the game was 6–6 heading into halftime. The Seahawks started off slowly and struggled on offense for parts of the game. I can assure you the Colts’ defense won’t make it easy this week. As always, here are my three keys for a Seahawks win.
1. Stop Jonathan Taylor
I’ve been writing three keys for a Seahawks win for pretty much this entire season, and I don’t think there’s been an easier one all year. Jonathan Taylor is the NFL’s leading rusher and has been for most of the season. But the season Taylor is having has been unlike anything we’ve seen in recent memory.
Taylor has had five games this season with at least three touchdowns. He has 16 rushing touchdowns, which also leads the NFL and he was in MVP talks before the Colts’ three-game losing streak. Taylor can take over a game; just ask the Falcons, against whom he had 244 yards in Berlin. Behind one of the best offensive lines in football, Taylor can take any run to the house, and the Seahawks cannot let him get into the zone, or it could be a long day for Seattle regardless of who plays quarterback for the Colts.
2. Don’t turn the ball over
Turnovers have been an issue for the Seahawks all season, and the Colts have forced the eighth-most turnovers this year. If this game goes south for Seattle, it would most likely be because they lost the turnover battle. I expect the Seahawks defense to have another good game this week, but the offense needs to do its job by protecting the football.
3. Don’t beat yourself
All things considered, the Seahawks should win this game. The only way they don’t is if they beat themselves with turnovers, penalties, and overall sloppy play. The Colts come into this game as a desperate team, and those are the most dangerous. I’m not counting out Indianapolis by any means, but Seattle needs to take care of business because this is not going to be a cakewalk.
Score prediction: Seattle Seahawks 33, Indianapolis Colts 13
If you asked me for a score prediction a few weeks ago, I would have thought this game would be a lot closer. But with either Rivers or Leonard starting against this Seattle defense, it’s going to be tough sledding for the Colts.
Kickoff is at 1:25 at Lumen Field in Seattle.
