Here are three pivotal moments of the Colts’ heartbreaking loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday.
The Indianapolis Colts’ first half performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday seemed to communicate to the country that they should be taken seriously in the AFC playoff picture.
As bad as Pittsburgh had performed in recent weeks — and they had some awful games — they looked as though they didn’t even belong on the same field as Indy in the first half, and that simply wasn’t the case in their previous contests.
Following the halftime intermission, however, the script completely flipped. The contagious confidence the Colts were oozing — look no further than their lively end zone celebration when they jumped out to 7-0 lead in the first quarter — disappeared and landed in the Steelers’ laps.
A few lapses of concentration in the secondary and a couple of questionable pass interference calls late in the third quarter later, and Indianapolis ultimately succumbed to a 28-24 defeat. A team that was built to sustain big leads tallied just three points in the second half and conceded a whopping 261 yards (and 21 points) over the final two quarters.
#Colts were outscored 21-0 over the final 24 minutes. Still don’t know how that happened.
— Locked On Colts Podcast (@LockedOnColts) December 28, 2020
Fans in Indianapolis are no doubt still trying to wrap their minds around this potentially season-crushing loss, so let’s try to navigate through this pain together and highlight three moments during the game that proved it wasn’t the Colts’ day.
3. Mark Glowinski Penalty
A holding penalty on Colts guard Mark Glowinski negated a huge offensive play.
After forcing a Steelers punt late in the second quarter, Indianapolis took over with manageable field position that provided them with the opportunity to build on their lead before the halftime break.
On second down, they called a screen pass to Nyheim Hines that caught Pittsburgh drastically off guard. After a few nifty juke moves, the third-year pro scooted up field and, thanks to a couple of thunderous blocks by his teammates, wasn’t caught until he was knocked out of bounds at the eight-yard line…68 yards later.
However, right guard Mark Glowinski was penalized for an illegal block (albeit a tacky one) on a defender whose momentum was already taking him to the turf, negating the play entirely. In many ways, this questionable call foreshadowed what was to come in the second half and the Colts, instead of having first and goal inside the 10, were pushed back to 2nd and 15 deep inside their own territory.
After Indy seemed poised to establish a three-touchdown lead, they settled for zero points after punting just a few plays later. This play didn’t seem critical when it transpired given that Indy already had a sizable lead, but considering the outcome, going up by 21 points really could have neutralized Pittsburgh’s comeback effort before it even began.
2. Two Pass Interference Calls
The Colts were hit with two pass interference calls that inarguably helped facilitate Pittsburgh’s comeback.
The prominent talking point after Indianapolis’ epic collapse will be the two controversial pass interference calls on Pittsburgh’s final drive of the third quarter that extended into the beginning of the final 15 minutes.
First, we saw a despicable flag thrown on cornerback Kenny Moore, who was said to have interfered with wideout Diontae Johnson. However, upon further review, it became clear that the contact was incidental and (at most) minimal — not to mention that the ball was tipped.
Despite all of those factors seemingly working in the Colts’ favor, the Steelers were awarded a gain of 24 yards early in their make-or-break drive.
Then came the equally-egregious call on fellow cornerback TJ Carrie, who was penalized for allegedly grabbing Johnson’s jersey on a deep route when he was really just trying to make a play on the ball.
If officials wanted, they could probably call pass interference on not only every play, but on both the pass catcher and defender given how much hand-checking transpires during routes. However, they simply had no business calling Carrie for pass interference on this play.
The call set Pittsburgh up with 1st and goal deep in the red zone, and they would ultimately capitalize in the form of a touchdown pass to tight end (and former Colt) Eric Ebron, shrinking their deficit to just three points with essentially a full quarter left to play.
1. Philip Rivers’ Interception
Philip Rivers failed to come through in crunch time and it cost the Colts dearly.
We’re still trying to comprehend how inept the Colts’ offense looked in the second half. Perhaps Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin deserves credit for making adjustments after Indianapolis seemingly did whatever it wanted in the opening two quarters. On the other side of the spectrum, Frank Reich should probably face the music for failing to adjust to his chess move.
To his credit, the 59-year-old HC did try to eat clock in the second half. However, after facing several stacked boxes on plays that were meant to be runs, Philip Rivers had no other choice but to audible to a passing design. Unfortunately for the Colts, these changes at the line of scrimmage did not work in their favor.
After Rivers went 9-of-12 (75%) for 153 yards and a touchdown in the first half, he finished 13-of-27 (48.1%) for 117 yards, which equates to just 4.3 yards per attempt, and an interception.
Speaking of that INT, it really couldn’t have come at a worse time for Indy. Down four and needing a touchdown to take the lead, the offense picked up a first down on two plays on their drive that started with 7:34 remaining in the fourth quarter. On the following play, Rivers inexplicably went for it all and grossly overthrew intended receiver Michael Pittman Jr. and the pigskin landed in the welcoming arms of Steelers corner Mike Hilton.
The Colts would get the ball back, but at that point — just over two minutes remaining with zero timeouts — it was desperation mode, and they could only muster 52 yards on 11 plays before turning the ball over on downs to seal their fate.
Make no bones about it, folks: these three crucial moments during the game played huge roles in Indianapolis’ second half collapse. All we can hope for is that the loss doesn’t come back to haunt their playoff aspirations.
Colts: Darius Leonard’s comments on PI calls were ruthless
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