The Colts took a 35-34 lead with 37 seconds left on the clock.
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Also, perhaps a little easier. “It was great to have the full complement of three timeouts”.
“I am exhausted of all these slow starts, especially at home”, said Luck, noting that Indianapolis is 4-5 in its nine most recent regular-season home games.
Detroit came away with a 39-35 win at Indianapolis on Sunday, so instead of bemoaning a defensive collapse that let the Colts back in the game, the Lions can rejoice over a close win. And three times, they went to the locker room with no points on the board. “A defense is smart, too”. Either would be an upgrade over the status quo, but are we really ready to talk about the draft?
The Lions will have a chance to build on their win when they play their home opener Sunday against a Tennessee team that won only three games a season ago and lost to Minnesota on Sunday.
“I told them give me some good pockets and we’ll win this game”. We won’t waste a timeout if we don’t have to.
There was some good, but it wasn’t enough to beat a team expected to finish third in the NFC North – a team led by the coach who was replaced by Chuck Pagano, a team without an elite, well, anything, a team that the Colts need to beat if they are to be taken seriously as a playoff threat. Luck struggled early last season, then missed the last seven games with a lacerated kidney.
For the second straight season, the Lions opened up a 21-3 lead in the second quarter of Week One, then watched that lead evaporate. “We must get out of the gate faster”. They will diversify. They will use their running backs on receiving routes to get them in space. That left Detroit with all three timeouts for the final offensive possession. The Colts played an injury-report game with their quarterback during the week but his arm look fully healthy, with four completions of at least 30 yards including a 51-yard bomb to Phillip Dorsett.
The Lions look to stay competitive in the NFC North this season as they will have to fend off two of the league’s top teams in the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings and while there are some question marks surrounding their depth chart they still have some very solid play makers.
And even Pagano wondered whether that might be the proper choice.
“Whoever is out there, we expect you play to winning football”, Jackson said.
“I don’t think anything was flawless”, Caldwell said when asked about the linebackers in coverage. “It is a unique challenge for us, something that we are going to have to spend quite a bit of time on”. He also was spreading the ball around brilliantly, getting himself out of trouble smartly and efficiently and most importantly, he found and recognized his running backs as they came out of the backfield.
And two plays later, the Colts scored to go ahead by a point. It’s possible the Colts would have fallen short of a touchdown without that chance to change the lineup and discuss the play-calling strategy. Adam Vinatieri’s extra point gave the Colts a 35-34 lead. If the goal was to truly regroup and get the right personnel on the field, the timeout could have been taken later.
“I think he’s everything that we thought he would be”, Texans owner Bob McNair said. “You can’t put the hens before the basket”.
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“Something was different about this one”, tight end Eric Ebron said after catching one TD pass Sunday.
