Colts: 3 killer sequences that cost Indy win vs Rams
By Adam Weinrib
The Indianapolis Colts entered Sunday’s matchup with the Super Bowl-contending Los Angeles Rams with very little margin for error.
Unfortunately, they filled that margin with errors.
During Carson Wentz’s time in the game, Indy benefitted from a few bounces (thank you, Johnny Hekker!) and a couple of spectacular evasions of the defense that justified his acquisition. However, it wasn’t enough to avoid a disastrous ending.
With several chances to put the game “away” in the early going, we instead were left with Jacob Eason with the ball down three, attempting to relieve an injured Wentz.
Emphasis on the “attempting”. So close, yet so far.
The end result was brutal, and the final minutes of the game were so tough to watch they might’ve misled you into putting the loss on Eason’s shoulder and Wentz’s ankle. Instead, the reality of this one was that the Colts could’ve run away and hid in the first half if not for three brutal turns of events.
These 3 sequences were turning points in the Colts’ Week 2 loss to the Rams.
3. Jonathan Taylor at the Goal Line
Everything was all set up for Indianapolis on their opening possession.
Carson Wentz was mobile, working the field like a seasoned general. The Rams’ vaunted defense looked a step slow, perhaps thrown off by getting a poor night’s sleep on Saturday night.
But once Jonathan Taylor got the the goal line, with the chance to deliver an early haymaker, the entire operation ran out of gas — and when they hit fourth down, things fell another level lower.
The first three plays of the sequence were Taylor runs, directly into the pile. The third attempt, where JT28 attempted to vault over the bodies, only to hit the turf short yet again, was particularly embarrassing. Given three shots at the end zone there, the league’s premier young back has to get in. No exceptions.
Instead of taking the points, Frank Reich schemed something up for Wentz…that never developed. Left without an opening or a safety valve, the QB went backwards and spun into a devastating sack.
Turnover on downs, which eventually helped create the late-game dramatics.