The Colts were rolling, or at least rolling by the standards of a sloppy, low-scoring game between two of the AFC’s eminently mediocre middle class, being viewed by almost nobody because of two premier matchups in Sunday’s late window. (Am I selling this? Does it make you want to keep reading? Stick with it; the Colts shit the bed real messily.) It was 13-7 Indianapolis, and the Colts picked off the Broncos’ first possession of the second half, and on the second play from scrimmage, Jonathan Taylor broke free, seemingly scoring on a 41-yard-touchdown scamper.
Taylor took it “to the house” in the same sense as you fumbling for your keys as you approach your front door and dropping them down a storm drain. The officials initiated a review and determined that Taylor had dropped the ball before crossing the goal line, and because the ball rolled out of bounds in the end zone, it was a fumble and Denver ball. Brutal.
So brutal that there wasn’t really anything for Taylor to say afterward—no excuses, no mitigating factors, just abject regret. He said he apologized to his teammates, and told reporters that “it just can’t happen. No matter the game, no matter the scenario. You can be up by 50, down by 50, playoff game, first game of the season. That should never happen.”
It’s happened enough (second time this season!) that a player might consider grounding the ball in the end zone, rugby-style, just to be safe. Too late for the Colts, who went from within a hair’s width of extending their lead to never scoring again the rest of the game, ultimately a 31-13 Broncos win.
Indy certainly didn’t do themselves any more favors early in the fourth quarter, still down just one score, when Shane Steichen called for a trick play. Anthony Richardson tossed the ball out to Adonai Mitchell, who was to throw it back to Richardson on a cross-field lateral, and Richardson would ideally have some wide-open options downfield. That’s how it was supposed to work:
If it feels a little rude to pick on trick plays that get blown up. That’s the risk/reward of the thing—you either look like a genius or a dummy. Mitchell was supposed to throw the ball away if things went south, but he never saw linebacker Nik Bonitto tracking it the whole way. It’d go down as a fumble recovery and touchdown for Bonitto, who was flagged for an illegal demonstration for his Marshawn Lynch–inspired celebration seen at top. “We worked on that play all week, and it was great,” Steichen said, though they might have benefited from a few more practice failures, to be able to identify when it should be aborted.
Shooting yourself in the dick is never a fun way to lose a football game, but this was a particularly pivotal dickshooting for Indianapolis. A win would’ve given them a 61 percent chance of making the playoffs, according to The Athletic. With the loss and a 6-8 record, their odds are just 15.6 percent. This will be the last time you have to think about the Colts this year.
