The Buffalo Bills are heading to the heart of the Midwest this weekend to take on the Indianapolis Colts in one of the most highly-anticipated games of the season. Obviously, that is not true at all, based on the CBS broadcast coverage map, which shows that approximately 90% of the nation will be watching either Denver at Kansas City or Pittsburgh at Washington during the early slate of games:
Here’s the viewing map for Chiefs-Broncos this Sunday. pic.twitter.com/hYir59qbKd
— Farzin Vousoughian (@Farzin21) November 6, 2024
I would assume that this low level of excitement for the matchup is related to the fact that there is no real lingering rivalry between the franchises, despite being in the same conference and even sharing a division from 1970-2001 (counting the Baltimore Colts years). Additionally, the Colts are struggling at 4-5 and recently benched their potential franchise quarterback, Anthony Richardson, for a 39-year-old Joe Flacco, who managed to lead the offense to exactly zero touchdowns last week against the Vikings. Nonetheless, it is the duty of the sports writer to try to hype folks up for the game and that is what I plan to do.
Captivating Buffalo Bills at Indianapolis Colts Storylines Meant To Excite You
No, Joe Flacco is not as fun to watch as Anthony Richardson, who has been more likely to throw an interception than a touchdown thus far in his career (eight interceptions to seven touchdowns in ten games), but Flacco has an opportunity to put the Colts in an awkward situation on Sunday. Indy instructed Richardson to grab some pine after a tough afternoon in Houston two weeks ago, during which, Richardson took himself out of the game because he was feeling tired.
It appeared as though management wanted to send the young quarterback a message by sitting him last week, but if Flacco puts up another inadequate performance against the Bills, the team may have no choice but to cut Richardson’s punishment short. If we are comparing NFL coaching to parenting, as one rarely does, Richardson getting the reins again so soon may not allow the lesson to properly sink in and he might therefore be prone to another supermarket meltdown.
Buffalo is still banged up at wide receiver and may be without up to three of their top options. In the Bills lengthy Wednesday injury report, they listed Keon Coleman as DNP, and Amari Cooper and Curtis Samuel as limited:
Wednesday injury report pic.twitter.com/Xpibb5DMCv
— Buffalo Bills PR (@BuffaloBillsPR) November 6, 2024
Luckily for Josh Allen, tight ends Dawson Knox and Dalton Kincaid are fully healthy again and receiver Khalil Shakir has emerged as his on-field best friend, catching 42 passes on 45 targets for 471 yards so far this year. The potential absence of Coleman, Cooper, and Samuel should give pause to Bills fans, though, as Indianapolis is 14th-best in points against and 8th in forced turnovers this year so even though they aren’t the most celebrated unit in the league, they certainly have the ability to give opponents fits.
If all of that doesn’t get your blood pumping for this regular season 1:00 PM showdown at Lucas Oil Stadium, I will offer up one more enticing nugget: Colts fans have been using, “For the Shoe,” as their rallying cry for the past few years. Logic tells you that this is in reference to their famous horseshoe logo, but I am holding out hope that the team possesses some beloved penny loafer that is celebrated on the field before every home game to get the crowd on their feet, pun intended. Tune in to find out, though CBS has ensured that most of you will not be able to.
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