Colts Weekly Recap: Week 4 Jacksonville Jaguars at Indianapolis Colts

The news officially broke on Sunday morning, Andrew Luck would miss his first start in his career with a right shoulder bruise and Matt Hasselbeck would be starting in his place. The way Luck has been getting thrown around this year, I’m just thankful all he has is a bruise.

This was a pretty boring, and yet extremely exciting game, all at the same time. Hasselbeck actually look really good. He was plagued by his receivers dropping passes, especially right away, but he was 30/47 with 282 yards and a touchdown. He also didn’t turn the ball over at all. The same cannot be said for the running backs, but we’ll get there.

LOSS Week 1 Colts 14 @ Bills 27

LOSS Week 2 Jets 20 @ Colts 7

WIN Week 3 Colts 35 @ Titans 33

WIN Week 4 Jaguars 13 @ Colts 16

Week 5 Colts @ Texans

Week 6 Patriots @ Colts

Week 7 Saints @ Colts

Week 8 Colts @ Panthers

Week 9 Broncos @ Colts

Week 10 BYE

Week 11 Colts @ Falcons

Week 12 Buccaneers @ Colts

Week 13 Colts @ Steelers

Week 14 Colts @ Jaguars

Week 15 Texans @ Colts

Week 16 Colts @ Dolphins

Week 17 Titans @ Colts

This game started off with a couple of punts, one from each team. Then the Colts started to find a little rhythm. Hasselbeck was able to keep drives alive on third down, and bring the Colts into the Jaguars territory for a 54 yard field goal for Adam Vinatieri. It was his first field goal made this year, but it won’t be his last.

Colts 3 Jaguars 0

The Jaguars received the ball, and were on a mission. First a deep pass to Allen Hurns for 26 yards. Followed by an even deeper pass to Allen Robinson for 48 yards, all the way down to the Colts’ six yard line. This is where the Colts defense has been pretty good all year, they bend but don’t break. The Jags were able to move the ball to the two yard line, but couldn’t get in the end zone and settled for a field goal.

Colts 3 Jaguars 3

After a couple of more punts, the Colts got the ball back with great field position, but on their first play from scrimmage, Josh Robinson was hit and fumbled. Giving the Jaguars the ball in the Colts territory. It didn’t take long for the Jags to strike. They moved the ball down the field with ease and Blake Bortles was able to find Hurns for his only touchdown of the day.

Colts 3 Jaguars 10

The Colts got the ball back after the kickoff and drove 80 yards down the field for a touchdown. They were aided by a couple great passes by Hasselbeck, but the main source of the Colts offense was the Jaguars penalties. On 3^rd and 9 the Jaguars were called for pass interference, only 4 yards but it gave the Colts a first down. Then on 3^rd and 10 Hasselbeck was sacked, but the defender grabbed his helmet and nearly pulled it off during the sack, which resulted in a 15 yard personal foul and another Colts’ first down. Hasselbeck hit TY Hilton for a big 17 yard play, which was finished with another 15 yard penalty for face masking. Then on 3^rd and 3 there was yet another pass interference penalty on the Jaguars, for 6 yards and another first down. The Jaguars then then a 12 man on the field penalty, but as the Colts were on the 4 yard line, it was only a 2 yard penalty.

For those of you keeping track, that’s 42 yards of penalties on an 80 yard drive. The Jaguars did most of the work for the Colts on that touchdown drive.

Colts 10 Jaguars 10

The Jaguars were able to go into halftime with a 13-10 lead. After a few more punts, the Colts actually started to look pretty good, they had an 8 yard drive and kicked a field goal to tie the game at 13. Then on their next drive, they had an 8 play 63 yard drive, and were just a couple yards from the end zone, when Frank Gore fumbled into the end zone again. If you recall, the last time he did this was two weeks ago against the jets, however, this time he was actually hit. A touchdown would have likely sealed the game for the Colts as neither team was getting much going offensively. The rest of the game was filled with punting until the excitement and heart attacks began.

The Jaguars got the ball back with 45 seconds left on their own 27 yard line in this 13-13 defensive grind. It was 3^rd and 3 with 34 seconds left, when Bortles was chased out of the pocket by Robert Mathis, and he scrambled for 14 yards, down to the 48 yard line. It is important to note, that the Jaguars rookie kicker, made a field goal from 58 yards in week 2. The Jaguars only needed to get to the Colts 40 yard line to be at that point. On the next play, they got to the 40 yard line, on a 12 yard pass that probably should have been intercepted, the way Bortles threw it up. The Jaguars still had 10 seconds on the clock, so they ran one more play to get just a little closer, and got out of bounds at the 35 yard line. This is now well inside the range of Jason Myers.

Myers came out on the field and set up for a 53 yard field goal. They set up, good snap, good hold, ball was up in the air. HE MISSED! HE MISSED REALLY BADLY TO THE RIGHT! But wait, Colts’ head coach Chuck Pagano called a time out! The kick didn’t count! He gets another chance at it! In my opinion, if you’re going to ice the kicker, you take the time out way earlier so that they don’t get a chance to kick the ball. If they miss it, they get another shot, if they make it, they’ve already seen it go through, and their confidence is sky high.

Myers and the Jags were ready for attempt number two at this game winning field goal. No time out came this time, the snap was good, the hold was good, and he kicked it. As the ball was in the air, it was between the uprights, it looked good, then it started drifting right, and further right. HE MISSED IT AGAIN! JUST OUTSIDE THE RIGHT UPRIGHT!

Overtime started with the Jaguars getting the ball, and on second down, TJ Yeldon broke a big run for 36 yards to the Colts 44 yard line. However, the Colts were able to stuff the Jags from that point on, actually pushing them two yards back, and forcing them to punt.

The Colts had a pretty lousy possession with a three and out and had to punt the ball back to the Jaguars. After a nice return to the 39 yard line, the Jags had pretty great field position. They orchestrated a 9 play drive to the Colts 30 yard line, where heart attacks happen.

It was 4^th and 8 on the Colts 30 yard line, still not an easy field goal, but 5 yards closer than before. This time from the other side of the field. 67,000 people on their feet at Lucas Oil Stadium, ready to see if this rookie will be able to forget about his last two misses and knock in the game winner. Could the Jaguars snap the Colts’ 15 game division winning streak? The snap was good, the hold was down, the ball goes up, and it started in the middle of the uprights but then it started hooking to the left. HE MISSED AGAIN! THE COLTS STILL HAVE SOME HOPE!

The Colts got the ball on their 38 yard line, and they had to win now, right? They have had too many chances. The first play, a deep pass to Coby Fleener for 28 yards, all the way down to the Jaguars 34 yard line. It would be a 52 yard attempt from there. The next play, Hasselbeck called his own number on a naked bootleg, but he is old and slow and only gained 4 yards. Two plays later, Gore hit a hole and was finally dragged down at the Jaguars 7 yard line. Vinatieri then came out to try his luck at the game winning field goal.

Vinatieri’s 27 yard attempt was significantly shorter than Myers’ 53 and 48 yard attempts, but it’s still a pressure situation to try to win the game. The ball was snapped, McAfee got down the hold, and the ageless wonder knocked through the game winning field goal. COLTS WIN! COLTS WIN!

The Colts still have a lot to work on. First of all, they need Luck to get back and healthy. Hasselbeck is a great backup, the best backup in the league, but he is still a backup. The offensive line actually protected Hasselbeck pretty well on Sunday, it was a little surprising, but they had a hard time opening holes in the running game.

Offensive Coordinator Pep Hamilton did an excellent job helping out the offensive line with quick striking plays. He was able to get the ball out of the quarterback’s hands quickly which allowed the playmakers to get the job done. It is what they started to do in the 4^th quarter against the Titans, and I think it will be the way they continue to go this season. Getting the ball out of Luck’s hands quickly on most plays and establishing the run, will allow for Luck’s 7 step drop and deep ball. The opposing teams have been expecting that, and have shut it down, and blitzed a lot which is hard to block for the long progression plays.

The Colts did a much better job at limiting the penalties this week, they only had 4, which is 5 less than their average so far this year. However, they still turned the ball over, coughing up two fumbles, and another one into the end zone. They just need to do a better job at protecting the football, and we will see good things.

Andre Johnson needs to make his presence known. He is too good to only have 7 receptions in 4 games. Keep feeding Moncrief, he has been a beast so far this year. Coby Fleener needs to continue to show up to play, like he did this week. TY Hilton is still Mr. Reliable and will continue to be so for years to come.

The special teams unit seems like it may be the best unit on this team. Pat McAfee completely changes the field making any yard advantage the other team had gained nearly null. A lot of his success has to do with the coverage units doing a fantastic job as well. Adam Vinatieri doesn’t age. He booted a 54 yard kick during the game with plenty of leg to spare, he could continue to do this for quite some time (I think he is chasing that All-Time record).

D’Qwell Jackson had an outstanding game with 17 tackles (10 of which were solo).

Adam Vinatieri became the Franchise leader in points for the Colts, and while doing so, he also became the first player in history to score over one thousand points for two different teams (Patriots).

Matt Hasselbeck is the oldest non-kicker in the league and is the first quarterback since Brett Favre to start a game at the age 40 or older.

The Colts take on the Texans Thursday Night! Stay tuned for my Weekly Preview!