INDIANAPOLIS — First of all, it is important to acknowledge the men the Colts were missing.
DeForest Buckner has been everything Indianapolis thought he’d be, a game-wrecking, defense-altering presence who makes everybody around him better, especially Denico Autry, the man Buckner simultaneously displaced at defensive tackle and freed to put his playmaking skills to good use.
Neither player was available for Sunday’s critical rematch with Tennessee.
For the first time this season, the COVID-19 pandemic put the Colts in a bind, claiming their two most productive defensive linemen with control of the AFC South on the line.