3 Colts most responsible for fourth-quarter choke vs Ravens
By Josie Rohach
2. Rodrigo Blankenship
We know now that kicker Rodrigo Blankenship was injured, but he still has to take some of the fall for this one. Blankenship’s hip injury proved to be a reliable disaster for Indianapolis throughout the game. After hitting a 37-yard field goal to increase the Colts’ lead in the second quarter, the kicker fell apart.
With a missed extra point and two failed field goal attempts, including a potential game-winner at the end of regulation, to his name, the game quite clearly fell on Blankenship’s shoulders, and he just couldn’t hold it up. After getting his three-point attempt blocked by Calais Campbell with a few minutes left in the game, Blankenship’s 47-yard try at the end of regulation became a nail in the coffin instead of a rallying rebound.
The Colts weren’t the only team to suffer from kicking woes in Week 5, though. They just polished off the record.
Rodrigo Blankenship's missed PAT on #MondayNightFootball was the 13th miss across the NFL this week
— NFL Research (@NFLResearch) October 12, 2021
That is the most missed PAT in a single week in the Super Bowl era
It is also the 25th missed kick in total this week (incl. 12 missed FG), most in a week since Week 11, 1987
Injured or not, Blankenship’s failure to kick between the uprights left too many points on the board for his role in the loss to be ignored.
That said, he should never have been forced to kick in such high pressure situations while suffering with hip pain — that we’ll get into next.