“The season isn’t going to stop for us”.
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“You definitely have to over-communicate because we’ve got some guys that haven’t even been in the building for seven days – and they’re playing”, inside linebacker D’Qwell Jackson said. On Sunday, the reaction was the same at halftime of Lions-Colts. Starting defensive linemen Henry Anderson (recovering from torn ACL) and Art Jones (suspension) won’t play Sunday. “It’s hard to win in the National Football League and when you go down 21-3, it’s that much harder”. The hopes of forcing a 3-and-out and keeping Stafford and company off the field soon disappeared. It took four drives before the Colts were able to muster up any points.
Stafford also got after tight end Eric Ebron the previous play, when the young tight end wasted precious seconds appearing to stare down the defender he had just beat for a 9-yard reception.
-Jim Caldwell has come under fire for the way he has managed late-game clock situations in the past, and he had to defend himself again Sunday even though his decision to save his timeouts during the Colts’ go-ahead touchdown drive ultimately worked out in the Lions’ favor. That was when Luck found Donte Moncrief for a touchdown to cut the deficit to 21-10. Lions fans were hopeful that the midseason promotion of Jim Bob Cooter to offensive coordinator was a big reason, but there always seems to be a healthy amount of skepticism toward this franchise, so the 39-point showing right off the bat was a significant step. “We can look back and say it would’ve been nice to bleed more time off the clock but we had some personnel issues, we wanted to get a different group in there …” When the Lions missed that fourth quarter extra point, everyone in the stadium had to expect that Luck would march the Colts down the field for a 35-34 lead, and that’s exactly what he did. They had to punt it away. A 15-yard facemask penalty on Walden gave Detroit a 1st and 10 right outside of the Indianapolis 30.
-With two field goals in the loss to the Lions, place-kicker Adam Vinatieri improved his streak to 27 consecutive conversions dating back to the 2015 season. After forcing another 3-and-out, the Colts were in great possession to tie this game once again.
Pagano’s not wrong. Certainly, the Colts scoring a touchdown was paramount to running time off the clock.
Week 1 is obviously a small sample, three of the Colts’ next four opponents allowed multiple touchdowns to wide receivers last week. Taking the lead with 37 seconds remaining should be enough to lock down a victory.
Prater missed an extra point wide right with 4:04 left in the season opener, a miscue that almost cost the Lions. The Colts still had a chance to lead, but this time it would presumably be for good.
Luck on another slow start: “I’m exhausted of being a part of slow starts”. Either way, :37 (the time left when the Colts scored what should have been a game-winning touchdown) was way too much time to leave an opponent while clinging to a one-point lead.
“That’s a quality Detroit Lions team that deserved to win today”. One of which included the 22-yard catch in the the final minutes of the game which directly set up the game winning field goal. Redemption time for Prater.
“You’ve got to finish”.
Luck may have a frayed labrum, but he flayed the Detroit defense for most of the game, completing 31 of 47 for 385 yards and four touchdowns (a 119.5 rating). Eleven first responders will run onto the field during player introductions, and another 200 will hold an American flag that stretches the length of the field as Indianapolis police officer Christopher Wilburn sings the national anthem.
“We played like (expletive)”, he said.
“At the end of the day, it’s about a win or a loss”, following the 39-35 loss to Detroit.
If this continues, the Lions offense will be prolific this season. Many of his free agent signings have not panned out.
Listen to the full interview above to hear about those stories, as well as Michigan’s latest blowout win, the Tigers fighting to make the playoffs and the controversy over a pitcher who was taken out of a game while pitching a ideal game. But when the Colts called the timeout was highly questionable. Last year’s 133 represented a career high.
Injuries have decimated Indianapolis’ plans in the secondary. Johnathon Newsome was released after an arrest after spending two years in Indy.
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“We felt like it was more important at that time to get back, get gathered, get a call in and get settled because we still needed the touchdown”.
