Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay has slammed his team's performance during their opening pre-season match on Sunday.

The Colts fell to a comprehensive 44-20 defeat at the hands of the Buffalo Bills, leaving Irsay angry at what he described as a "crap" performance.

A number of usual starters only played for a brief spell in the game, but Irsay believes that that is no excuse and took to Twitter to apologise for the showing.

Many starters played briefly or were nursing little injuries,but it was a crap performance,my apologies/My commanders got n earful from me!

— Jim Irsay (@JimIrsay) August 12, 2013

The Colts' next pre-season match comes against the New York Giants on Sunday.