Refs, Adam Vinatieri cost Colts win in Pittsburgh

A lot of things went wrong for the Colts in this game. Their quarterback was knocked out. They had awful penalty calls go against him. But their kicker cost them another game.

Adam Vinatieri did it again. He missed two kicks in this game, and lost the game for the Colts. They fell 26-24. Jacoby Brissett was knocked out of this game early and Brian Hoyer had to come in the first quarter for relief. But this game was all about the referees and the kicker.

There were several awful calls in this game. They called an awful personal foul on Darius Leonard on a late hit that wasn’t a late hit. They called a personal foul on Bobby Okereke after tackling the punt returner on a legal hit. The refs missed a clear running into the kicker penalty on a Colts punt.

All of those cost the Colts in one way or another. it was a terrible officiated game. But the bigger thing was the pick-six thrown by Hoyer in the first half. He threw a 96-yard interception return for a touchdown in the first half. That hurt the Colts immensely.

Turnovers killed them all game too. The Colts fumbled a free kick after a safety. That resulted in Pittsburgh points. The pick-six was obviously large too. Hoyer got sacked and lost a fumble on fourth down. Too many mistakes in this one.

But all could have been forgiven if Vinatieri would have made a 43-yard game winner. But he missed it horribly to the left. It was his second missed kick, as he had an extra point blocked in the first half. He continues to struggle badly.

The Colts need to get rid of Vinny and there’s no other way around it. They have left numerous points on the board because of his missed kicks this season, and he is costing the team games. This was a rough one to lose.