Colts Gab

“It’s déjà vu all over again”. Yogi Berra

The Indianapolis Colts never cease to amaze me; although to be fair, when you have been a Colts fan for as long as I have (39 years and counting), what they seem to do on a weekly basis seems eerily commonplace. When the Colts went to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars Thursday night, I didn’t expect a high-scoring event as most weeks the Jaguars are lucky to eclipse 20 points a game.

In any case, both teams hooked up at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium and the game had the feel of a track meet, so to speak. Defense was definitely an afterthought and interestingly enough, Jacksonville held the ball for 11 minutes longer than Indianapolis. Both teams seemed to score at will (did I mention that not much defense was played?), but as has been the custom this season, Peyton Manning tossed a late touchdown pass to Reggie Wayne with 5:23 in the fourth quarter, enabling Indianapolis to remain perfect as they got past Jacksonville 35-31.

Manning was perfect in the first half, going 12-of-12 for 116 yards and had TD passes to Austin Collie and Dallas Clark; Clark made an improbable sliding catch in the end zone which put the Colts up 7-3 early in the second quarter. Collie’s 23-yard catch put Indianapolis ahead 21-17 withy 35 seconds left in the half; the Jaguars got ot within field goal range but kicker Josh Scobee came up short on a 57-yard FG attempt.

The Jaguars would take the lead at 24-21 with a 16-yard David Garrard TD pass to Mike Sims-Walker but Manning would again hook up with Clark on a 27-yard TD strike, putting the Colts ahead again 28-24; a 13-yard Garrard-to-Mike Thomas TD pass put Jacksonville up at 31-28 with 47 seconds. But Manning would lead the Colts down the field and with 5:23 left in the game, he connected with Reggie Wayne on a 65-yard bomb which put Indianapolis up for good 35-31.

Manning had good numbers, going 23-of-30 for 308 yards with 4 TD’s and an interception while Garrard went 23-of-40 for 223 yards with 3 TD’s and an INT. Joseph Addai led the Colts rushers with 16 carries for 59 yards while Maurice Jones-Drew rushed 27 times for 110 yards and a TD while catching 5 passes for 30 yards and a score. Wayne led all Colts receivers with 5 receptions for 132 yards and a TD while Clark caught 7 passes for 95 yards and 2 TD’s. Sims-Walker led the Jaguars receivers with 6 receptions for 64 yards and a score while Marcedes Lewis caught 4 passes for 53 yards.

Indianapolis (14-0) gets a long rest as they do not play again until Sunday, December 27 when they play their final game at Lucas Oil Stadium this season, hosting the New York Jets while Jacksonville (7-7) travels to Foxborough, MA to take on the New England Patriots, a week from Sunday.

All night long it looked as if it was going to be one of those nights for the Colts. They were getting beat at the line of scrimage, were not able to stop the Jags offense, and despite a good night from Peyton Manning, they were just a step slower than the more motivated Jaguars.

That is until the end.

The Colts finally caught the Jaguars at the 6:28 mark of the fourth quarter after an Adam Vinatieri 45-yard field goal tied the game at 24. Then less than two minutes later, Jags QB David Garrard made a game-changing mistake, throwing a pick that Keiwan Ratliff played perfectly, taking it back 35 yards for the score.

But there was still time left.

And the Jags were able to get the ball back deep in their own territory with 2:34 to go, needing to go 90 yards for the game-tying score. They were able to gain big yards in chunks, and with :48 seconds left were already down to the Colts 17.

That’s when two monster plays took place. The first would be one that actually went against the Colts, a niffty pass and catch from Garrard to Maurice Jones-Drew that gained them 10 yards. Problem with the play for the Jags was Jones was hurt on the play, and even though there was plenty of time on the clock, the injury with no timeouts caused the refs to enforce a 10 second clock runoff, taking the time from :27 seconds to :17.

Then after an incomplete pass, the Colts defense stepped up for another huge play, as Dwight Freeney ran through the Jags line, getting to Garrard who had no shot to throw, slinging him down for a 9-yard loss that put him back to the 16. The most important thing – the clock kept running, and the Jags were helpless to stop it as it hit zero before the Jags were able to run another play.

Game over.

And with it, the team is headed to the playoffs. Yes, their backs will be against the wall as the number five seed, but for a club that has come up with big plays the last eight weeks, their ability to do it again on Thursday night shows just how good this team can be in the postseason.