Colt Anderson, special teams, Indianapolis Colts: The Butte native did not register a tackle in the Colts’ 24-21 win over the Falcons. We looked into all of that stuff in two of those games. However, the win added to the mystique of the Colts who can play well on certain times but poorly on others.
Advertisement
The greater point is that the Falcons have beaten themselves with random fumbles and a few interceptions, of which only one was a truly bad offensive play.
“We bit on it the first time they ran it and the object is they want to suck the linebackers up and hit the quick slant behind us”, Jackson said of his fourth-quarter interception.
The errors continued to come in a sloppy start to the game, with Matt Ryan’s attempted pass towards Roddy White in the endzone being tipped and intercepted by former Falcon Dwight Lowery.
From there, the defense did their part.
Before exiting early, Freeman had three carries for 43 yards. In fact, the last seven drives the Falcons had during the game ended in no score.
Indianapolis Colts running back Frank Gore (23) runs against Atlanta Falcons cornerback Jalen Collins (32) during the first of an NFL football game, Sunday, November 22, 2015, in Atlanta.
For the Colts, maybe “no Luck, no problem” should be the team’s motto until mid-December.
Freeman will go through the concussion protocol this week, his availability for next Sunday’s game against Minnesota likely to be an ongoing question mark. Again, this doesn’t excuse them for their early struggles, but understand that double-digit comebacks aren’t common in the NFL. If Hasselbeck can continue to play mistake-free football and direct the offense efficiently, the Colts have a good chance of staying afloat without Luck. During their current five game ATS losing streak, they haven’t scored more than 21 points in regulation. The two against Indy were cases of the defense playing well (though Ryan, a vested veteran, would probably tell you he should have read the field a little clearer). They were on the road. That sees them tied with the Houston Texans at the top of the AFC South.
GAME-CHANGING PUNT: Vinatieri tried to share the postgame spotlight with McAfee, who set up Jackson’s interception by having a 50-yard punt downed at the 1-yard line. Newton finished with a passer rating of 123.3, despite being the victim of numerous drops from his wide receivers. Vinatieri has two game-winning kicks this season, also beating Jacksonville in overtime…. But in the National Football League, style points don’t matter.
Two weeks before, in the loss at San Francisco, the Falcons had no turnovers, but they couldn’t run the ball. But the offense totally bogged down in the second half, turned it over four times, and failed to take advantage of three Indianapolis turnovers. Jones wound up with nine catches for 160 yards. But the Colts stepped up when it mattered. Normally reliable kicker Matt Bryant missed a field goal, and Ryan threw an interception in the end zone to kill another first-half drive that started in Colts’ territory. D’Qwell Jackson picked off a pass and returned it for a score.
Hasselbeck called it the “play to win the game” because that’s usually the case when you call Vinatieri a teammate. The Colts won, and a win is a win.
Advertisement
The loss for the Tennessee Titans leaves them in the basement of the AFC South on 2-8, and now in desperate need of a string of wins to get them back into contention. “Even at 4-5, the Colts aren’t done”.
