The Colts traveled to Tampa this past weekend for week 14 against the Buccaneers.
For the third week in a row, Indianapolis came up empty-handed.
It is safe to say that all chances for the Colts this season are long gone.
As the norm of late, the Colt’s had an explosive start to the game. Colt’s linebacker Darius Leonard picked off Buccaneer’s quarterback Jameis Winston on his very first pass attempt of Sunday’s match-up. Three plays later, Jacoby Brissett launched a deep pass to the right side of the endzone and connected with wide receiver Marcus Johnson, giving the Colts an early first-quarter lead. The Colt’s increased their lead to 10-0 on the next drive after safety George Odum forced a Tampa Bay fumble, which was recovered by cornerback Rock Ya-Sin at the Buccaneer’s 48-yard line. The Buccanneers pushed back and lead 14-10 at the end of the first quarter. Darius Leonard completed a second interception and bumped the Colt’s lead up to 24-14. The Colts finished out the half on top at 27-21.
In a very competitive third quarter, Brissett connected with wide receiver Zach Pascal in the endzone. Brissett connected with Pascal yet again and completed a two-point conversion. The Colt’s led 35-21 late in the third quarter. the last lead they would have in the ball game.
Who was to blame in the Colt’s loss to the Buccaneers? While the sport is truly a team effort and it takes both sides of the ball to win a game, the defense fell incredibly short (as they have done in recent weeks). The Buccaneers had little to no issue throughout most of the game with passing. Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston completed 456 yards for 4 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. The Colt’s played zone coverage throughout most of the game. Much like the last few weeks have shown, zone coverage is not enough. There were countless completed passes without coverage at all. It almost looked as if the defense had never played a down of football together.
A solid first half was soiled (once again) by a defense that cannot seem to get out of a rut.
The Colt’s will travel to New Orleans next week to play the Saints at Mercedes-Benz Superdome.