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Indianapolis Colts quarterback Daniel Jones expected a strenuous afternoon against the Minnesota Vikings.
And the amount of pressure sent his way was historic.
Minnesota blitzed Jones on 85% of his dropbacks during Sunday's 16-10 loss, the highest rate by any NFL team in the past 20 seasons, according to ESPN's Kevin Seifert, citing ESPN Research.
Jones admitted that Indianapolis anticipated a grind versus defensive coordinator Brian Flores' unit.
“We expected it to be this kind of game. Kind of an ugly game,” Jones said in a postgame video shared by WISH-TV.
Jones completed 13 of 22 passes for 108 yards, with no touchdowns and one interception. Harrison Smith's late interception ended the Colts' final shot to rally.
Indianapolis led 10-6 at halftime but failed to score after the break, falling to 2-5 with its third consecutive defeat.
The passing game's difficulties against extra rushers were already a concern. Prior to Sunday, the Colts had the NFL's second-lowest explosive passing rate against the blitz at 6.6%, per Colts.com.
Flores kept stressing Indianapolis' ability to respond, and the Colts never pulled off enough through the air to punish that aggression.
Jones and Co. knew what to presume but couldn't make the plays necessary to triumph regardless.