Five Things Learned: Colts-Lions (2020, Week 8)

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INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Colts improved to 5-2 on the year Sunday with their 41-21 victory over the Detroit Lions in their 2020 Week 8 matchup at Ford Field.


It wasn't always pretty for the Colts on Sunday, especially early, as the offense sputtered and then the team allowed a blocked punt on its second possession, giving Detroit (3-4) prime field position and, eventually, a 7-0 first-quarter lead. But both the offense and the defense responded in a major way from that point on, logging huge play after huge play, and also taking advantage of some significant miscues by their opponent, to fly home with a 20-point road win.


"Good win today," head coach Frank Reich said. "We talked really hard about playing good football for 60 minutes — you know, putting good stuff on tape for 60 minutes. And like any football game, you know, there's going to be swings, highs and lows. I thought our guys handled that well.


"We get a punt blocked; nobody panicked," Reich continued. "We've got to build on that momentum."


Here are the FIVE THINGS LEARNED from Sunday's victory over the Lions:


» WEATHER THE STORM: The Colts, coming off their bye week on Sunday, had fallen victim to some slow starts of late, particularly in Week 5 against the Cleveland Browns and in Week 6 against the Cincinnati Bengals; Indy wasn't able to come back to win against the Browns, but did scratch and claw its way to victory against the Bengals. Unfortunately for the Colts, that theme would continue on Sunday, as the Lions blocked a punt on Indy's second drive of the ballgame and two plays later turned it into a 25-yard touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford to Marvin Jones to take an early 7-0 lead. Unlike against the Browns and Bengals, however, the Colts were able to right the ship from there, using big plays from the offense and defense, and taking advantage of some crucial blunders by the Lions, to score 20 points in the second quarter and 21 points in the fourth to eventually cruise to a 20-point road win. "It was just a 60-minute game," Reich said. "That's what we want to do, we just want to keep getting a little bit better every week. So, really proud of the way the guys hung in there and played to the final whistle."