Matt Prater (Estero), placekicker, Detroit Lions, No. 5 – Prater missed a late extra point, but kicked a 43-yard field goal in the final seconds to give the Lions a 39-35 win at Indianapolis – Detroit added a safety on the game’s final play.
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The easy takeaway from what the Colts’ offense showed in Sunday’s season opener was Andrew Luck is still really good at football.
A Colts defense that entered the game missing four front-line players was further depleted.
“The Colts have made investments in that line, with first-round rookie center Ryan Kelly the most notable, and it resulted in Luck being pressured on just 29.4 percent of his dropbacks against the Lions”, writes Pro Football Focus’ Sam Monson. Golden Tate came out on top in receptions with seven. On Detroit’s first drive, Riddick scored on a 21-yard run – something he didn’t have in his arsenal a year ago as a receiving specialist.
They ran a total of 15 plays for 31 yards in the first quarter. They tried. They could have been MUCH better with the clock, and at one point they were winning 21-3 before letting the Colts back in the game. The hopes of forcing a 3-and-out and keeping Stafford and company off the field soon disappeared.
“He flipped the field for us once, all the way down to, I think, the 7-yard line or something, when they had a little bit something going”, Caldwell said of Martin’s performance in Indy.
Stafford threw to running backs Abdullah and Riddick ten times against the Colts, they caught all ten passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns.
Colts safety Mike Adams said Indianapolis has only itself to blame for the loss.
“We have systems and strategies in place that we kind of look at and numbers that we are looking at all the time and guys in the (coaches’) box that are looking at it … and trying to stay within it so we have enough time to score”, Caldwell said. It wasn’t a disaster, however, and that’s as great a start as Lions fans could have hoped for. Its first three drives consisted of 15 plays and generated 31 yards. The Colts’ poor tackling Sunday was one of their foremost issues.
Regardless of how the Lions choose to try and get more pressure on the pocket, one thing Detroit did do well was knock down passes. They had to punt it away. He scored on an 11-yard pass in the third quarter, when he accounted for all but 8 yards on a 71-yard drive. All the defense had to do was make a play, or at least forced Detroit to work a little harder.
Vinatieri’s 40-yard field goal with 14:17 remaining pulled Indianapolis within 28-21. T.Y. Hilton and Moncrief shared the team lead with six catches.
He found tight ends Dwayne Allen and Jack Doyle for three touchdowns. The Lions wound up with 450 yards and converted all four of their red zone opportunities.
The Colts took a 35-34 lead with 37 seconds left on the clock.
Sunday was different. Anyone who has watched the Lions and Matthew Stafford over the years saw it. Chuck Pagano elected not to ice Prater, Prater hit the field goal with 4 seconds left.
The second half would be much better for the Colts offense.
Frank Gore rushed 14 times for 59 yards, but the Colts extended their streak of consecutive games without a 100-yard rusher to 51.
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The Lions ripped the Colts’ injury-plagued defense for 448 yards of offense. “When you miss like that, the second one can be hard”. Greg Toler and Ricky Jean-Francois are now in Washington. The bar for this defense was never set at “greatness”. The Colts 1st round pick in 2013 was used on DE/OLB Bjorn Werner, who was let go this past March and is now a free agent. Cooter replaced Joe Lombardi midway through last season but wasn’t able to fully install his system until this year. Josh Boyett let downtown Indianapolis night life get to him, felt he was entitled because he was a Colt, and found himself cut soon after.
