Carson Wentz wasn’t bad on Sunday during his Indianapolis Colts debut.
He just wasn’t good enough.
The first-year Colts quarterback threw a pair of touchdowns without an interception in his first game leading the Indianapolis offense. It wasn’t nearly enough as the visiting Seattle Seahawks torched the Colts for a 28-16 win.
The home game against a contender was a stout test for a Colts team looking to ride its vaunted young defense and newly acquired quarterback to an AFC South title and beyond. It failed.
The game started out well enough for Indianapolis. Seattle opened a 14-3 lead. But Wentz was hot, connecting on 9 of his first 10 passing attempts for 97 yards and a touchdown to Zach Pascal to cut the Colts’ deficit to 14-10 halfway through the second quarter.
A competitive game appeared to be in store. Colts fans were hopeful that Wentz might be closer to the 2017 Pro Bowl version of himself than the player that flamed out in Philadelphia five seasons after the Eagles drafted him No. 2 overall.
Colts fans treated to Russell Wilson show
But that was as close as Indianapolis got. Colts fans instead got a look at a true difference-maker at quarterback as Russell Wilson led Seattle to a pair of unanswered touchdowns en route to an efficient 18-of-23 effort for 254 yards and four touchdowns without a turnover.
Meanwhile, Wentz dinked and dunked his way to 258 yards on 25 of 38 pass attempts. His second touchdown arrived with 2:16 remaining in the game and the Seahawks leading 28-10. His fumble on a sneak at the Seattle 31 late in the third quarter had all but squashed hopes of a Colts comeback.
Wentz failed to make many connections with his receivers. Running backs Jonathan Taylor (six catches, 60 yards) and Nyheim Hines (six catches, 48 yards) led Indianapolis in receiving. Pascal (four catches, 43 yards, 2 TDs) was the only Colts wide receiver to eclipse three catches on the day.
Hope was high in Indianapolis entering this season, with a lot of it hanging on a Wentz resurgence. Sunday was only one game and certainly didn’t extinguish it. But it was enough to give Colts fans plenty of pause.
