By Bob Kravitz
November 12, 2017
Jacoby Brissett is sacked by Bud Dupree and Stephon Tuitt in Sunday's game at Lucas Oil Stadium. (Mykal McEldowney/Indy Star)
INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) - Let’s play Colts’ Mad Libs, shall we?
The Indianapolis Colts had a terrific chance to beat ___ Sunday at _____. In fact, they held a __-__ lead until there was ____ left in the fourth quarter. But then came the implosion. Then came the killing errors by ___ and ___, not to mention more game-altering mistakes by ___ and ___, all of which conspired to leave the 3-7 Indianapolis Colts as ___-___ losers to the _____. Indy played well enough to win, but just poorly enough to lose, just as they have in four other games when they’ve enjoyed a second-half leads. All of this has left the Colts utterly ____. “We can’t beat ourselves,’’ ___ said. “But they’re all correctible errors, so we’ll go back, look at the tape and ___.’’
How many times have I written this column this season? How many times have you read this column this season? As strangely compelling as the Colts are off the field – T.Y., Vontae Davis, Andrew Luck in Europe -- they’re painfully dull and predictable on Sundays. And Mondays. And Thursdays.
Even on a day when the Pittsburgh Steelers looked utterly disinterested, like they were going through the motions on their way to a 17-3 deficit, the Colts could not find a way to win a football game. Even with a couple of breaks – the Frank Gore non-fumble, the missed field goal, a blocked PAT and a rare quiet game from Pittsburgh’s offensive players, Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown -- the Colts could not get out of their own way long enough to avoid their usual fate.
Here’s what makes this game so challenging for a columnist, besides the fact I’ve written the same basic piece five times now this season: They really played pretty well. I mean, they played well enough to beat a Pittsburgh team who came in here with a 6-2 record and three straight victories. They slowed down Bell (3.1 yards per carry). They put the clamps on Brown (three receptions on seven targets). Defensively, they did almost everything they needed to do, a huge upset given the fact that Ben Roethlisberger has owned the Colts (13 touchdowns, no interceptions, no sacks) the last three times these teams have met.
For heaven’s sake, in the first quarter, the Colts (Pierre Desir, in particular) intercepted Roethlisberger and Hassan Ridgeway sacked him, two things they haven’t done in years. And in the process, they ran out to a 17-3 early-third-quarter lead. They were running it with Frank Gore. They were getting touchdown catches from Donte Moncrief and Chester Rogers. They were as good as they’ve been all season, punching a good team in the mouth.
When they lose by a thousand, it’s easy to get out the journalistic machete and hack away with impunity. But they played well. They played passionately. They played physically.
And they still lost,
If you want to know what kinds of silly mistakes turn a victory into a loss, I give you the immortal T.J. Green, who really should know better by now – but, for some inexplicable reason, does not and probably never will. The Colts had the Steelers backed up at the 1-yard line after Rigoberto Sanchez’ odd-looking, line drive kick was downed in the shadow of the goal line. One play later, Bell ran up the middle and was tackled, only to have Green, a master of the mindless personal foul, dive into the pile like David Boudia off the 10-meter board well after the whistle. Next thing the Steelers knew, they had the ball at the 21.
Now granted, they eventually punted, so no harm, no foul, right?
Wrong.
On the punt, Green was flagged once again, and the Colts were moved back to the 8-yard line. What’s that – about 90 yards of field position? And again, the Colts were not directly hurt by those mistakes, but now the field had been flipped, and after another exchange of punts, the Colts were forced to start another drive at their own 11-yard line. That’s when Jacoby Brissett threw a check-down to Jack Doyle, only to have the ball ricochet off his hands and into the mitts of Pittsburgh linebacker Ryan Shazier.
Three plays later, Pittsburgh scored a touchdown to pull within 17-9 with 11:52 left in the game.
“We got them at the 1-yard line,’’ Pagano said. “You can’t do it. It kills you. Next thing you know, they’re at the (21-) yard line. You’ve got an opportunity there in a tight game field position wise. You’ve got to keep your head and you’ve got to keep your cool…’’
Even the good things the Colts did turned bad. Margus Hunt, a very tall man, blocked the PAT attempt, which was picked up by safety Matthias Farley. Down the field he ran, the end zone and two points beckoning, but at the last second, he cut inside and was chopped down by the Pittsburgh holder at the 3-yard line.
Somewhere, Nick Harper was cringing.
“Dumb, just dumb,’’ Farley said later. “I didn’t know anybody was closing in, and then I shouldn’t have cut it inside.’’
Still, the Colts had a shot to pull off the upset. After Chris Boswell missed a field-goal try from 37 yards, the Colts took possession with 6:17 to go in a tie game, and actually – miracle of miracles – managed their only first down of the fourth quarter (and just four the entire second half and just 19 net yards after the Rogers touchdown). But then, on a second-and-5 at the 42, guard Kyle Kalis, who committed three penalties Sunday, got popped for holding. The drive expectedly stalled, setting up Pittsburgh for the game-winning drive.
You knew it was going to happen, didn’t you? Seriously, if you didn’t, you haven’t been watching this team all season.
Meanwhile, poor Brissett was getting thrown around like a rag doll, taking hit after hit as Pittsburgh ratcheted up the pressure. He appeared to hurt his right arm, or – gasp! – shoulder. He limped off another time with a leg injury. Then he took a shot to the back of the head from Pittsburgh’s Stephon Tuitt, which sent him to the medical tent for tests.
Actually, he was there twice. First, he was checked and cleared by team trainers, then moved the bench, then returned to the medical tent, where he was cleared by an independent neurologist. Brissett finished the game, but afterwards, the team announced Brissett would not be meeting with the media because he was symptomatic once again and had been put into the concussion protocol.
There will certainly be questions as to why and how Brissett was cleared to return, only to suffer from symptoms later, but this wasn’t even close to the Russell Wilson situation. In the Seattle game, referee Walt Anderson sent Wilson off the field due to concerns about a hit to the head, at which point, Wilson momentarily ducked into the medical tent, then returned to the field seconds later. Brissett was in the tent long enough to be properly assessed.
I lack the medical credentials to determine whether Brissett was wrongly re-inserted into the game. If the NFL is so inclined, the league has the prerogative to investigate.
All we know is what we’ve known nearly from the beginning of this doomed season: The Colts don’t know how to win, even when they play well, as they did against Cincinnati and then Sunday against the Steelers. We’re at the fill-in-the-blank portion of the season. At least it will be two full weeks before we have to write the exact same column again. For that, we are all eternally grateful.
No comments:
Post a Comment