INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Colts kept the momentum rolling with a 27-20 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Shane Steichen preached complimentary football during the bye week, and Sunday, the Colts put together a complete performance.
"Great team win. Huge to get to 6-5 and then heading into, obviously, a good division game next week against Tennessee will be big, but huge team win," Steichen said. "Defense came up big there at the end with the sack fumble. Offense did a good job moving the ball in the first half getting 17 points, and then finding a way, obviously, at the end in four minutes to put them down, so good team win.”
Fresh off the bye week, the Colts were without center Ryan Kelly as he recovers from his second concussion of the season. Additionally, it was the first game since linebacker Shaquille Leonard was waived from the team. Leonard, though, was in attendance Sunday and received a standing ovation from the Lucas Oil faithful.
Tampa Bay was working with a depleted secondary. Additionally, they were missing star linebacker Lavonte David, and the Colts took advantage.
The Bucs started well in this one. Tampa Bay took 7:32 off the clock on their first drive, but the Colts were able to hold them to a Chase McLaughlin 21-yard field goal.
Indianapolis responded with a solid drive of its own, which saw Gardner Minshew complete his first five passes of the game. The drive stalled, however, when the Colts got to the 20 yard line, leading to a Matt Gay 46-yard field goal to tie the game at three.
Colts' linebacker Ronnie Harrison Jr. provided the spark they needed late in the first quarter. He picked off Baker Mayfield inside Buccaneers territory to get things rolling.
"That's huge, obviously, getting in the system, learning the system and then, obviously, getting a lot of action out there today and come up with that pick — that came from the preparation," Steichen said. "Guys were wired up on that play — heard everyone calling it out. It was awesome to see — the deep over, got underneath it and made the pick, so it was big.”
Just a couple plays later, the Colts capitalized, courtesy of a Jonathan Taylor four-yard touchdown run to take the 10-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.
This Colts defense woke up after that. Samson Ebukam sacked Mayfield on third down to force a three and out.
The next Colts possession, they went 62 yards on 10 plays, which included a 24-yard pickup from Minshew to Michael Pittman Jr. on fourth down. That drive capped off by a two-yard Minshew scramble to put the Colts up 17 to 3 with nine minutes to play in the first half. It certainly felt like the Colts were in complete control of this one.
Gardner Minshew, though, did commit a bad turnover late in the second quarter, throwing an interception. The Bucs took over in the red zone and capitalized, courtesy of a Mayfield one-yard touchdown pass to Mike Evans to pull the Bucs within 7.
The Colts had a chance to put more points on the board at the end of the first half, however Matt Gay's 58-yard attempt doinked off the left upright. Colts led 17-10 heading into the locker room.
Out of the half, the Colts put together a solid drive, but had to settle for a 36-yard Matt Gay field goal, pushing their lead to 20 to 10.
The start of the fourth quarter featured the Colts giving up a 19-yard gain on a pass from Mayfield to Chris Godwin on a fourth and 10 from midfield. The Bucs turned that into points a couple plays later, thanks to a 23-yard touchdown pass from Mayfield to Mike Evans for his second touchdown of the game to pull within 3.
The defining play of this one came on a fourth and inches conversion. Minshew hit tight end Mo Alie-Cox for a 30-yard gain. A couple plays later, Jonathan Taylor punched it in for a touchdown that did everything but seal it for the Colts in this one.
“Put (that play) in this week, actually," Steichen explained. "Our tight end coach, Tom (Manning), came to me with the idea when we were doing our short yardage meeting, and I said, ‘Shoot, that looks pretty good. That looks like a walk-in touchdown. Let's have that one up for sure.’ He said, ‘Who do we want at the fullback spot?’ We went back and forth, and I said, ‘Let's put Z (Zaire Franklin) in there at fullback.’ They gave us the look, and it worked.”
Samson Ebukam did force a strip sack with just over a minute remaining that was recovered by Dayo Odeyingbo, and the Colts emerged victorious.
“I mean, that’s what we pride ourselves on," Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin said. "Look, at the end of the game, you want the ball to be in our hands to end the game. We’ve been in that situation before and came up short, but not today. Today, we did what we needed to do.”
Gardner Minshew ended the game 24-41 with 251 yards, an interception and a rushing touchdown. Jonathan Taylor ran the ball 15 times for 91 yards and two touchdowns. Zack Moss ran the ball eight times for 55 yards to push the colts total rushing yards of the game to 155.
“I know we came out throwing it there early a good amount and then settled into the run game," Steichen said. "JT (Jonathan Taylor) popped a few big ones, Zack (Moss) popped a few. It was good. That one-two punch back there is awesome.”
Michael Pittman Jr. also had one of his best games of the season, catching 10 passes for 107 yards.
"I think as we continue to grow and continue to build trust with each other — I trust him (Michael Pittman Jr.) to go make the plays, and he's been doing it, so just continuing to build," Gardner Minshew said. "Still some things we're figuring out. Man, he had a great day today and excited for him.”
The Colts tied their season high on Sunday with six sacks. Additionally, that late strip sack brought their total to seven on the year, which is tied for the most in the NFL.
The Colts sit at 6-5 ahead of a road division matchup with the Tennessee Titans next week. At the end of the game on Sunday, the Colts were in the playoffs as a wild card team.
“I think it's big," Steichen concluded. "Obviously, playing your best football in November and December to give yourself a chance there to get in is huge, but we got to take it one game at a time. Obviously, going and having a division opponent on the road with Tennessee coming up, got a lot of respect for them, but we got to prepare the right way and be ready to go.”
The Colts and Titans kick off on Sunday, Dec. 3 at 1 p.m. in Nashville. Three of the next four Colts games are on the road.