Stampede Blue
With 47 seconds left and replacement kicker Blake Grupe drilling a 60 yard field goal in the chilled Pacific Northwest air, it looked like the Indianapolis Colts were about to do seemingly the impossible—shocking the world in the process.
Go into Seattle and beat the 10-3 Seahawks, who deploy one of the league’s best defenses (and offenses), and starting (out of desperation) a 44-year-old since unretired veteran quarterback, Philip Rivers, who re-signed with the team earlier this week and hadn’t played a snap in nearly five years (and who was playing behind two backup offensive tackles for a lot of this one late).
Not to mention, the Colts were already without defensive stars such as DeForest Buckner and Sauce Gardner, as well as starting veteran right tackle Braden Smith (to go along with of course, starting quarterback Daniel Jones).
Instead, Seattle answered late again as veteran kicker Jason Myers converted a 56-yard field goal kick with 18 seconds left, which was a heart-breaker for an increasingly banged up Colts squad that had delivered such a spirited and surprisingly strong performance to that point.
Offensively, the Colts primarily ‘ran the damn ball’ with Taylor, who had 25 carries for 87 total rushing yards. Aiding Rivers, they ran short to intermediate routes over the middle of the field for their passing gameplan.
While it wasn’t flashy or explosive play generating, it was effective, as the Colts nearly led the entire game until its final minutes, controlling the ball and clock, while mitigating turnovers.
To his credit, Rivers completed 18 of 27 pass attempts for 120 passing yards and a touchdown, with his interception (and only turnover) came in the closing seconds on a deep desperation throw in the final seconds.
Regardless of the outcome, it was awesome seeing a young grandfather like Rivers throw a touchdown pass to Josh Downs late in the 2nd quarter at his age and on such notice, given the extraordinary circumstances.
Rivers arm strength clearly isn’t what it once was, but his pre-snap recognition remains elite, he made the right reads on throws, and for the most part, consistently delivered accurate, short to intermediate throws—even if a lot of them were contested.
The Colts defense backed him up with a stingy and prideful effort, keeping the Seahawks, who have one of the league’s best scoring offenses, out of the end zone and limiting them to six field goals to give Indy a chance.
Unfortunately, a short final Grupe kickoff, gave the Seahawks exceptional field position to set up the game winning field, and the Indianapolis secondary ‘bent’ a little more than it could realistically afford to in the final seconds of regulation—setting up Myers deep game-winning field goal kick.
The Colts were so, so close to pulling off an impossible comeback win against one of the NFL’s best teams, which could’ve been a future Hallmark film. You can say what you want, but this team still hasn’t quit yet. We can knit-pick at certain things, but I...
