Indianapolis Colts late rally falls short, lose 33-25 to Oakland Raiders
By Evan Reller
The Indianapolis Colts had the slimmest of margins to make the playoffs, but couldn’t dig themselves out of an early hole in a must win game, falling 33-25 to the Oakland Raiders.
And the Colts season ended with a whimper. Needing to win their final two games, and get some serious help from a few other teams, the Colts failed to show up to Oakland this week.
And here we see the inherent problem with the 2016 Colts. A brilliant performance was sandwiched between two horrible losses in must win games. Defeating the Raiders, even before the season began, was going to be difficult but the Colts really didn’t even try on Saturday.
Andrew Luck was off his game all afternoon. The fifth year QB threw a pair of interceptions in the first half and was generally spraying his passes all afternoon. Luck finished the day completing 19-of-29 attempts for 288 yards and two touchdowns. He also had a rushing touchdown late in the game.
The Colts appeared to have their running game going early, but were forced to abandon it early in the second half when facing a 26 point deficit. Frank Gore finished the day with 73 yards on the ground.
A fourth quarter rally was kicked off after Derek Carr suffered a leg injury at the hands of Trent Cole. The Colts quickly scored off a Luck scramble, making it an 11-point game. A field goal from Adam Vinatieri would make it a one-score game with 2:33 left to play. But down eight and needing a stop, the Colts failed to get the Raiders off the field, ending any hope of a game tying drive.
The Colts defense was a trainwreck for most of the afternoon. The pass rush was beyond non-existent but it wasn’t any worse than the run defense which gave up 210 rushing yards. While the defense has been bad for most of the season, they played completely uninspired football when it mattered most and let the Raiders do whatever they wanted on the field.
The Colts only have pride left to play for and can at least finish the season at .500. They’ll host the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 17 on January 1st.