Have you ever had a rock in your shoe that is an infrequent irritant? It doesn’t bite you with every step, but occasionally the pebble just hits your foot wrong and induces pain.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are like a rock in the shoe of the Indianapolis Colts.

In recent seasons, the Colts have been a playoff contender and last year were looking for a playoff berth with just one last hurdle, beating the lowly Jaguars in their regular season finale. The Colts were favored by two touchdowns over a Jacksonville team that had already clinched the first pick in the draft with only two wins over the first 17 weeks of play.

What appeared to be an occasion where the Colts would easily triumph, instead turned into a nightmare. They got slammed by the Jaguars and eliminated from the postseason, 26-11.

This year, when the Colts had their first meeting against the Jaguars in Florida, most assumed an Indianapolis team smarting off a surprising tie against the Houston Texans would have an easy time of it in a revenge game against Jacksonville. It seemed obvious, the Jaguars had lost their opener to the Washington Commanders, who didn’t win again until last night, and seemed a perfect candidate to absorb the Colts wrath as Indianapolis looked to rebound from their first week disappointment and last season’s playoff elimination loss.

Didn’t happen.

It was the Colts that got clobbered when these two teams met four weeks ago, 24-0.

That result had many wondering out loud that newly acquired quarterback Matt Ryan may not be the savior that Indianapolis was looking for. A tie and a loss to two of the teams that combined for only seven wins in 34 decisions last season, put the Indianapolis organization on notice.

Following those two flat efforts, what chance did Indianapolis have in third week action when the Kansas City Chiefs came calling?

Welcome to motivation 101. Kansas City had won their first two games, downed the Arizona Cardinals on the road by more than three touchdowns and held off the highly regarded Los Angeles Chargers in second week action in a prime time Thursday Night Football meeting.

For the first time this season, the Colts didn’t go into their game thinking a win was just 60 minutes of game clock away. They were the ones with the eye of the tiger while the Chiefs showed up at Lucas Oil Stadium thinking this was an easy match while their attention may already have been looking ahead to their next week’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

In this rich motivational spot, the Colts upset Patrick Mahomes and company, 20-17. The following week, favored for a road game against the Tennessee Titans, the Colts one game winning streak came to an abrupt end. Tennessee left the Colts with only one win after four weeks of play by downing Frank Reich’s team, 24-17.

Last week, in a game many categorized as one of the worst the NFL has ever broadcast in primetime, the Colts downed the Denver Broncos in a battle of field goals, 12-9.

Should we just consider the Colts a good bet when they are underdogs, like they were against the Chiefs and Broncos when they picked up their only two wins of the year? Or should we look deeper to discover what is driving the Colts results?

Look deeper.

This week, the Colts host the Jaguars, and Indianapolis doesn’t have to be getting points on the spread to have underdog motivation. Four weeks ago, the Colts were favored by three points on the road, this week they are only favored by two points at home. That means the public opinion of the Jaguars has risen since these two teams met last month and the perception of the Colts has taken a nosedive.

You know that pebble in the Colts shoe that bothered them last year and cost them a playoff berth and caught them again this year in a surprise road loss to Jacksonville? Well, I think the Colts now recognize that as a bigger problem and are about to do something about it while both fully rested and motivated for the first return meeting in the NFL this year.

The perception of the Jaguars up and the Colts down is about to get a sharp adjustment on Sunday.

Qoxhi Picks: Indianapolis Colts (-2) over Jacksonville Jaguars